The Besnard Lakes

Now here's a band that could give Arcade Fire a run fot their money. I first posted on The Besnard Lakes, back here, after reading about them. They sounded very intriguing to me and Stylus have agreed with that assessment

"Beach Boys harmonies (yes, really), well-toned psychedelic guitar solos, closets full of noise and haze, and an attentive palate for the gaffes and perfect imperfections of the first-takes, basically everything that makes the indie cognoscenti salivate right now—and molded it into something softly fierce and primal. In fact, at times, its lyrical themes—all gasoline-burnt and obscure—are difficult to imagine perched atop such glowing harmonies, but the Besnard Lakes somehow turn that dichotomy to their advantage, forging intangible epics out of splinter-wired amps and codas of excess".

The mp3,below, is absolutely tremendous and I detect a little Syd Barrett influence in the glorious chorus.

"And You Lied To Me" mp3 - The Besnard Lakes

more mp3's at The Hype Machine

The Besnard Lakes

I found out about this collective through the NME, of all places. The Besnard Lakes are said to feature members of Godspeed You Black Emperor and The Dears (not sure who, as of yet). They have one track available to stream here, "Disaster", and it is an intriguing mix of Godspeed's cinematic orechestration and "Pet Sounds" era Beach Boys vocal harmonies. Canada cannot seem to stop producing quality and this, along with the imminent new Arcade Fire album, could be one of the best things to come out of the country in 2007.

They have a limited (500 copies) 10" available here, described as....

"Starting with the mysterious promise of a Eno-esque thrumm and building into a Flaming Lips soundtrack to David Lynch's Erasherhead. This is spectral drone with a nod to prime MBV's subterranean melodies and ecstatic crescendos. The band are about to complete their second album in their new studio that was hand built from the ground up. The 'Lakes' promise that the new record will be totally over the top and could well be released on a legendary US label. A strictly limited 10" vinyl E.P. record with full colour sleeve and screen printed inserts in an edition of 500 copies"