The Decibel Tolls

Haven’t done a real Real Time Review in a while. As The Besnard Lakes seem to have a rather anticipated album coming around the bend that I just gripped, this seemed like as good of opportunity as any. The Besnard Lakes are a lot of things. They are Brian Wilson meets Ennio Morricone meets The Delgados meets Serena Maneesh. They are a band that does not sound like The Arcade Fire. They are the dark horse as well as the roaring night. They either have a tongue-in-cheek sense of humor or they really think a lot of themselves. They also do not fuck around. Nor shall I. Let’s do this:

“Like The Ocean, Like The Innocent Pt. 1: The Ocean” - One immediate avenue straight into Kenny Bloggins’ heart is incorporation of The Conet Project into music. I actually plan on (and have been for some time) writing a feature piece on the incorporation of broadcast (especially eerie samples a la numbers stations) in music. Bessy Lakes is already on that within 30 seconds into the introductory track, so ten points for them right off the bat.

“Like The Ocean, Like The Innocent Pt. 1: The Innocent” – Begins with The Besnards Lakes trademark distant Brian Wilson-evocative vocal cries. Then the track starts to rip it. Explosive and epic, like a dream pop version of Bruce Springsteen sans sappy lyrics. I can get behind that. Soaring and gorgeous – this is get-it-done music. My day is going to be victorious from mashing play on this jam, and I feel like an asshole for not writing a song this good. The meeting of syrupy harmony and beautiful yet ominous guitar tones puts out a sort of  beach at night in a post-apocalyptic time sort of vibe, if that makes sense. That, of course, is not to mention the the lyrical content discussing picking up signals on the shortwave, which reminds me of the Cold War in general in tandem with war themed cover art. Olga’s vocals dropping in the chorus is fucking impeccable.

“Chicago Train” – The Brian Wilson tonality always slams triumphant in the more sparse, atmospheric songs. However, the psych-slanted honey-tinged sweet pop melodies really evoke The Zombies more than anything on “Chicago Train.” This is always a great thing. More bands would be awesome if they took their cues from The Zombies than, I dunno, Led Zep. Just my belief. Song hits hard at the end. Much better than actually riding the Chicago trains, though I lived neared the Red Line during my time there, and it was always under construction. I digress.

“Albatross” - Oh, love the vocal lead from Olga and corrugated, flangey guitar. Reminiscent of, like, Velocity Girl, with a crowd-pleasing harmonic bliss out built in. When discussing shoegazing, the “Phil Spector sound wall” is often referenced, but they intrinsically sound different. The crescendo of “Albatross” is a true blue reinterpretation of this sound.

“Glass Printer” - The fluid bass, large fuzzy guitars, shoegaze-informed reverberated fast picking riffing, and cascading melody reminds me of The Brian Jonestown Massacre during their creative height. Dramatic and blissful. Love this.

“Land Of Living Skies Pt. 1: The Land” – Static-saturated ambient breather a la Godspeed. Always a good style.

“Land Of Living Skies Pt. 1: The Living Skies” - Western reverb on the guitars coupled with a general desolate mood and pervasive melancholia. Great oceanic mood until the chorus dropped. which felt a bit lackluster on this one since it seems they were borrowing sounds and melodies from previous songs (though this might be apropos to the album concept). Well, hey, you can’t hit it out of the park every time.

“And This Is What We Call Progress” – Driving percussion, thick tremolo, and an ever expanding moodiness give this a Bear In Heaven (and thus, Bark Psychosis) vibe.

“The Lonely Moan” - Dreamy and lush space pop on this number. Fans of Windy & Carl listen up.

“Light Up The Night” – Opening with a Flaming Lips-style orchestral movement. Pretty darn beautiful. The minor key melody is beautiful, but the guitar solo detracts from the building intensity, whereas it worked well on “The Innocent” (though that track and this final track do sound similar – seeing what you all did there with a “full circle” theme). Turns out not to be the best ending to the album, compared to the intensity established in the first half.

Welp… Besnard Lakes dropped a doosy that a lot of folks can get in to, and I suppose I’m one of them. Are the Roaring Night is a better and more mature effort compared with 2007’s Are the Dark Horse. While the album can be hit or miss, particularly toward its tail end, the triumphant atmospheric pop permeating throughout totally outweighs any missteps. The Besnard Lakes are the Roaring Night gets the Kenny Bloggins seal of approval.

Album drops on March 9 courtesy of Jagjaguwar.

For fans of:  Slowdive, Olivia Tremor Control, non-crappy Mercury Rev, Brian Wilson

Fagen-Becker Quality Rating

MP3 :::
Files removed per request. You can download “Albatross” here