The Besnard Lakes – Are The Roaring Night

The Besnard Lakes Are The Roaring Night

I’ve always wanted to visit Canada. If and when I ever get round to popping over, Besnard Lake in Saskatchewan will be on my itinerary. In my mind’s eye, it’s dominated on one side by craggy mountains whilst on the other, the shimmering sandy beach is canopied by the shadow cover of a lush forest. Children play in the shallows and in the distance sailboats and windsurfers teeter on the edge of the horizon, all overseen by the friendly Loch Bess monster. This picture has grown in my mind since learning The Besnard Lakes took their name from the area and it’s the Montreal band’s atmospheric and epic music which has inspired my own imagination, though Google Images has ruined it all by showing me otherwise.

The Besnard Lakes Are The Roaring Night opens with the first set of two double part tracks. ‘Like The Ocean, Like The Innocent pt. 1: The Ocean’, a short instrumental which sounds like radio chatter in the control room of an alien craft, merges straight into ‘pt. 2: The Innocent’. Jace Lasek’s falsetto cuts across the effects and the track slowly builds into a bass driven, chorus led anthem which brings to mind the heavier moments from Low’s back catalogue. The Low comparisons don’t end there either – both bands are fronted by a husband and wife duo, both bands work best when each couple sings together in harmonious tandem and both utilise long notes and simple structures to create a specific atmosphere.

…Are the Roaring Night is all about the vibe and sound. Vocals are often low in the mix and so drenched in effects and reverb that it’s impossible to decipher what is being sung. When the lyrics are meant to be heard, they’re unlikely to move you as much as the music but this isn’t the point of the Besnard Lakes; they have always been a band more concerned with how the story is told rather than the story itself.

‘Albatross’, the album’s lead single, is played fairly straight with less proggy touches than the majority of the other tracks. Vitally though, it comes at a point in the album where the more simple structure offers the album a greater sense of variation and depth. Olga Goreas takes lead singing duties here and although her voice isn’t quite on a par with her husband’s, it offers the chance for Lasek to provide backing harmonies, flipping the band’s general delivery.

‘And This is What We Call Progress’ brings to mind the unrelenting drum pound of The Secret Machines with Lasek’s voice sounding particularly stunning, beginning in a dreamy drawl and peaking into his trademark falsetto. Lasek stretches his vocal chords one final time and with arguably the best results in ‘Light Up the Night’, a track notable for its final three minutes which loops the main hook, adding a slight layer to each repetition.

The Besnard Lakes Are The Roaring Night is a powerful album which impresses on first play through and seeps further into your subconscious with each subsequent listen. After only a few listens I’ve found myself idly humming ‘oooh you’re like the ocean, oooh you’re like the innocent’ and this is the album’s greatest success; it catches you unawares and hypnotises you before you’re even aware of its hold.

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