The Besnard Lakes

The Besnard Lakes Are The Dark Horse

(Jagjaguwar)

Record Review by Adam McKibbin

In the political and athletic arenas—where the term is most common—a “dark horse” is generally regarded as a scrappy outsider, underfunded and overmatched. The Besnard Lakes almost assuredly are underfunded, at least compared to the bands to which they are compared (Beach Boys, Polyphonic Spree, among others). But far from a meekly overmatched DIY act, they conduct themselves like one of the big boys, writing songs that sound ready to feel amphitheatres—like the barnstorming ‘70s rock of “Devastation.” Nothing says summer sing-along like “There’s a devil flying overhead / What a fucking pile of shit / Dev-a-station!”

Okay, so The Besnard Lakes can be a bit enigmatic, a bit difficult to pin down, particularly on the first few exposures. On the opening “Disaster,” Jace Lasek starts off with the sweet-and-reverb thing like Jim James, then gets to a chorus that offers the first hint of the band’s affection for Beach Boys harmony—a thread that carries throughout the album, and never comes across as unwelcome (that proverbial well, after all, is being gone to with alarming regularity by bands in 2007—we’re talking about near-Springsteen levels here).

“For Agent 13” introduces multi-instrumentalist Olga Goreas, the other main component of The Besnard Lakes; the opener is the only track in which she is absent. Set against the whole, it’s “For Agent 13” that most stands out from its companions, especially with its surprisingly Sigur Ros-like climax (a complete vocal departure for Lasek). The harmonies between Goreas and Lasek are rich and varied, recalling another husband-and-wife team, Low’s Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker, on “And You Lied to Me.” Goreas is also a co-writer and co-producer; Lasek, for his part, counts Wolf Parade and Sunset Rubdown among his credits as a producer. But Dark Horse isn’t a producer’s album so much as it’s a songwriter’s album—and a damn good one at that. Eight tracks, each different from the other, no filler.