Search - Besnard Lakes :: Are the Darkhorse

Kind of the Dark Horse , but could be Darker.

H.G. Lovecraft | Leeds Point, NJ USA | 10/30/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Interesting stuff..... Did you ever here one song from a band & your thoughts are Wow! Their other stuff must be great as well? I bought this because of For Agent 13, which is very, very cool & I see how some can compare this Canadian band to Sigur Ros & the like, but the cd is not very consistant to that particular sound. Disaster is very good as well, but some tracks are all over the place. I also wish that there were a bit more of the Brain Wilson harmonies that I keep hearing about, but you can clearly hear that there was some influence. Thats not to say its bad in any way just kind of different & it gets a little up beat for my taste, but I am into a more somber sound so others may like that tempo change? I always find it most helpful when reviewers compare to other bands so my best description would be......some of the older 4AD stuff, Dead Can Dance, This Mortal Coil, & then some Earlimart, but most of all & I know this may sound crazy, but it also brings to mind Catherine Wheel, but again the sound changes too frequently so its difficult to perfectly describe the style. This the only reason its not a 5 star cd in my opinion, but well worth owning For track 2 alone."

4.5 Stars.... Excellent follow-up album and one of 2007's su

Paul Allaer | Cincinnati | 11/05/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Let me state upfront that I was unfamiliar with The Besnard Lakes until I heard them on the excellent internet indie rock station WOXY. After that I dove into the band's music and listened to their musical output so far. 2005's "Volume 1" was ok, but I have been charmed much more by this album. If you are not familiar with the band's sound, it's a concontion of My Morning Jacket meets the Beach Boys meets Godspeed You! Back Emperor, yea, for real.



On "The Besnard Lakes Are the Dark Horse" (8 tracks, 45 min.), the band, fronted by the husband and wife team of Olga Goreas and Jace Lasek, expand very nicely on the early beginnings of the band. Check out the opener "Disaster", which goes back and forth between soft and harder-crunching music, intermixed with harmonizing vocals reminiscent of the Beach Boys. But in style it really reminds me more of My Morning Jacket era-Tennessee Fire and At Dawn, even though the music rocks, HARD at times. Other highlights on the album for me are the epic 7+ min. "And You Lied To Me", the Olga-fronted and hard charging "Devistation", and "Because Tonight", another 7+ min. tune. But in truth, there are no weak tracks on this album. The whole album clips along very nicely, and at 45 min. from beginning to end, you find yourself playing it again and again, can you have a better compliment to an album?



The Besnard Lakes came to Cincinnati in early December (opening for Peter, Bjorn & John) and I was absolutly mesmorised how the songs of "The Besnard Lakes Are the Dark Horse" resonated in concert, even better than on the album, with a terrific "wall of sound". This is for me one of the surprise albums of the year. Highly recommended!"