The Besnard Lakes ARE the Most Underrated

I fucking LOVE this band! I know you don’t know who they are.But don't worry, no one does. I only know them from random happenstance. And it’s a shame, because they are seriously amazing. Seriously one of the most under-appreciated bands of our time. But I’ll warn you, you may have to work for the reward.  Like most worthwhile bands, you likely won’t be able to just waltz right into The Besnard Lakes  and expect immediate satisfaction.

HOWEVER, once you have tuned your brain into their fantastic niche sound and conditioned your auditory nerve-endings to the nuances of their music, it is absurdly rewarding.  I compare them in that way to Pink Floyd or Radiohead, in that you may not immediately appreciate the complex sound and the sometimes seemingly drawn-out or off-timing of particular elements, but after that a few listens the intricacies of the music gets ingrained into your neural patterns. THEN, and only then, will you realize the full potential and extremely rewarding sensation woven into the subtleties of the music. You anticipate a specific moment, (perhaps the placement of a vocal harmony or an escalation in tempo),  and as the anticipated moment materializes you are rewarded with the release of pleasurable neurotransmitters.

The Besnard Lakes are particularly adept at delivering  such fulfillment with their awesome build-ups, vocal harmonies, and the anticipation that goes along with them. Their 3^rd album “The Besnard Lakes Are the Roaring Night” is a goddamn masterpiece along these lines, and I look forward to delving into their full discography to see if the other albums are as rewarding. I think the new album, “Until In Excess, Imperceptible UFO” has a lot of potential.

The Show

I was lucky enough to catch their set last night at The Crocodile. It was a fantastic show. The simple light effects amplified by massive amounts of fog, created the perfect ambiance for their droney sound. They played mostly the new album, which I unfortunately had only listened to about 3 times through, so it was enjoyable (and they did great), but I could have prepared better. They played a few songs from "The Roaring Night" which I thoroughly appreciated, including:

Albatross

Like the Ocean, Like the Innocent

They unfortunately DID NOT play Chicago Train, which is the song I wanted to hear the most.

What makes this band unique 

In this video  Jace Lasek explains how they create their music, which in turn explains quite clearly why they sound so unique, saying they are “basically a cover band of our own band”!

They use a tool called an E-bow as a sort of  magical 'pick' for the guitar, to produce some of the more bizarre sounds on the album which uses an “electromagnetic field to produce a sound reminiscent of using a bow on the strings.” Which roughly translates into “ sounds fucking amazing.”

Jace Lasek has what someone else very perfectly described a “laser precision falsetto” giving the vocals a very distinct sound, which translates surprisingly well live. This combined with their amazing harmonies and perfection of their ambient droney sound makes for some incredible music.

Albums to check out