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The Besnard Lakes, "...Are the Dark Horse"
The cover of this album reminds me of Poe's story "Metzengerstein," in which a horse appears as an incarnation of the title character's dead rival to settle the score after he's murdered. When Metzengerstein's house catches on fire, the horse is seen running through the blaze with Metzengerstein himself on its back, presumably on their way to hell. Although I can't say that The Besnard Lakes are taking me all the way to hell, there is still enough emotional weight in these songs to make it a vivid and memorable journey.
Original members Jace Lasek and Olga Goreas add a few new faces for this, their second album, and get additional help from members of The Dears, Stars, and Godspeed. Owning their own studio, they’ve produced recordings for Wolf Parade, Islands, and Stars, among others, but nowhere is their recording expertise more evident than on this lush, gorgeous album.
The opening "Disaster," with its plaintive falsetto and melancholic strings, sets the mood for an album of bittersweet recriminations and triumphs. The even more upbeat "Devastation" propels itself forward with this juxtaposition of joy and sadness, lending it a satisfying complexity that transcends the ordinary. My favorite track on the album, "Because Tonight," spends about half of its running length building up to its climax, but the payoff is well worth the time invested, with its gratifying eruption of male and female harmonies.
Another strength of this recording is that the songs have a way of making their players sound like a complete orchestra. Their surging rhythms, soaring melodies, and transcendent vocals turn even the tiniest listening environments into grand cathedrals by virtue of their acoustics alone. The music swells and fills the space more emphatically and more breathtakingly than any recording I’ve heard in quite a while. After creating an album this rich and poignant, I can't imagine that The Besnard Lakes will be the dark horse for long.
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