Salı 7 Eyl 2010, 10:46

Track: Like The Ocean, Like The Innocent Pt. 1: The Ocean (1:39)
and Like The Ocean, Like The Innocent Pt. 2: The Innocent (7:15)
Artist: The Besnard Lakes
Album: The Besnard Lakes Are The Roaring Night
Tags: rock, post-rock, shoegaze, psychedelic rock, progressive rock, my gang rotw
Video: Click the pic…

http://i2.ytimg.com/vi/Ify-buS9JUU/default.jpg YouTube, audio upload

When I first heard The Besnard Lakes Are The Roaring Night back in March, I posted excited tweets in Twitter, quoting from some of the lyrics. Then I didn't spend any more time with it. There are so many music sites streaming brand new albums in full, I find myself racing to keep up every week. Sounds brilliant, but I'm starting to miss my old habit of nursing an album till I know every note.

Something I've always done is follow my nose. I have cravings for music like other people do for chocolate. This year, time and again, I found myself craving this album and in particular, these two opening tracks. They're droney and quite loud but at the same time, almost unbearably beautiful and uplifting.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51BnXlUKAzL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

Part 1 is instrumental, barely audible to begin with, slowly rising to swirling echoes of strange sounds and guitars and distant voices, a wall of sound climbing at a grand, measured pace. There is no break and the track moves straight to Part 2.

The second part is where the song is and where the crunchy guitars take over. It's epic in scale with layers touching on every level, from dark and light, calm and high drama, heavy drones and blissful heights. All the while, the same measured pace, trudging and grounded, providing further contrast to the lush harmonies and high vocals.

Different reviewers pick different tracks from this album to highlight. Allmusic has chosen the next two, lead single Albatross, Chicago Train and the last one, The Lonely Moan.

The Besnard Lakes Are The Roaring Night is their third album and, for me, their strongest. It dazzles with points of light that blaze through the dark, whereas the previous two focus more on darkness.

http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/_/2252404/The+Besnard+Lakes.jpg

I have to post this fluffy bit of Adrian Mole from YouTube:

The Besnard Lakes, the Montreal collective fronted by husband-and-wife duo Olga Goreas and Jace Lasek, has returned, crafting a majestic, sprawling vision of guitar bombast and captivating pop experiments.
On March 9th of 2010 (March 8th in the UK), Jagjaguwar will release The Besnard Lakes Are the Roaring Night, a twisting chronicle of spies, double agents, novelists and aspiring rock gods turned violent. Loyalty, dishonor, love, and hatred are all seen through the eyes of two spies, communicating through short wave in code and fighting a war that may or may not be real.

The Besnard Lakes Are the Roaring Night was recorded at Laseks Breakglass Studios with a vintage 1968 Neve germanium mixing console used to record portions of Led Zeppelins Physical Graffiti. The Besnard Lakes Are The Roaring Night is a dark bliss-out that folds the eerie guitar epics of the bands breakthrough, The Besnard Lakes Are the Dark Horse, into a wall of affected drones and atmospherics. The toughened immediacy and grit that gives the form a much-needed shove over the cliffs makes for a haunting, provocative swan dive into the crushing tide.

The husband and wife team each take a different approach to songwriting. His songs are about the retired spy who is now a musician. Hers are based on personal experience. In delivery, his voice is high-pitched, recalling artists such as Supertramp, whose music also seems to inform this album. Hers reminds me a lot of Isobel Cambell. But where Cambell's voice is the fairy tale next to Mark Lanegan's whisky-soaked growl, Goreas's voice acts as a ballast to the even higher voice of her husband.

This album is one of the contenders for my end of year top ten. There's only one criterion and that is: do I wake up craving it.

Further reading:
Wikipedia - The Besnard Lakes Are the Roaring Night (with links to reviews)
MySpace
Metacritic score: 80/100
The Quietus review

Babs

- My Gang

Reco of the Week archives
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Disclaimer: Mines

http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/500/43652933/The+Besnard+Lakes+Besnard+Lakes.png

Admin: Stats as of today:

Part 1:
Last.fm listeners of this track - 13,847
No. of plays scrobbled in Last.fm - 37,755
Position in Last 7 Days: 3 / 569
Position in Last 6 Months: 3 / 10,907

Part 2:
Last.fm listeners of this track - 12,294
No. of plays scrobbled in Last.fm - 38,652
Position in Last 7 Days: 2 / 571
Position in Last 6 Months: 9 / 7,941

Video
Date Added: January 13, 2010
Views: 20,297, Ratings: 82 Likes, Comments: 29, Favourites: n/a

Stats after 7 days:

Part 1:
Last.fm listeners of this track - 14,010
No. of plays scrobbled in Last.fm - 38,212
Position in Last 7 Days: 3 / 552
Position in Last 6 Months: 3 / 10,907

Part 2:
Last.fm listeners of this track - 12,507
No. of plays scrobbled in Last.fm - 39,384
Position in Last 7 Days: 2 / 557
Position in Last 6 Months: 9 / 7,941

Video
Views: 20,599, Ratings: 84 Likes, Comments: 29, Favourites: n/a

186 Unique Visitors
244 Page Views

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