Evocatively named for a remote and
gorgeous body of water in
North-Central Saskatchewan and led
by the husband-and-wife team of
guitarist-vocalist Jace Lasek and
bassist-vocalist Olga Goreas, who
spend their days running Montreal's
hip Breakglass Studios, the Besnard
Lakes have built a devoted cult
following over the course of two
albums ("Volume One" in 2003 and
"The Besnard Lakes Are the Dark
Horse" in 2007) that found a middle
ground between the folkie,
back-to-nature sounds and vibes of
so-called "beard rock" (think indie
raves such as Bon Iver and Fleet
Foxes) and the early '90s
psychedelia of shoegazers like My
Bloody Valentine, Lush and Ride.
It's a big, sprawling sound that the
group likes to explore on big,
sprawling songs, and its third album
is its most epic offering yet.
Featuring not one but two stunning
two-part suites--"Like the Ocean,
Like the Innocent" and "Land of the
Living Skies"--"...Are the Roaring
Night" is an expansive canvas
leisurely colored with muted,
twilight tones, courtesy of hazy
walls of guitar, whispered harmony
vocals and sleepwalking rhythms. In
fact, it may be a bit too sleepy for
anyone with attention deficit
disorder--nothing here rocks as hard
or feels as immediate as the last
album's standout, "Devastation." But
for those who relish losing
themselves in great, enveloping
washes of sound, it's
irresistible--and it's just a bonus
that it includes the best enigmatic
Chicago anthem since the Handsome
Family's "The Giant of Illinois,"
via the hypnotic "Chicago Train."