The Besnard Lakes, The Besnard Lakes are the Dark Horse (Jagjaguwar)
Kinda Like: If a stoner music geek's entire record collection was melted by their giant wizard-versus-dragon candle and fused into one, totally rad album
Rating: 4.5 Montreal space rock masterpieces out of 5
The Deal: If Steve Albini made Neil Young and Crazy Horse jam with the Beach Boys and Sigur Ros at Yo La Tengo's house and all they played were LSD-altered re-imaginings of "Crimson and Clover"— The Besnard Lakes are the Dark Horse is what it might sound like.
For their sophomore disc, the Montreal band takes a lot of risks, playing with production almost as much as they play with songwriting. Space is explored fervently by the Besnards, as are musical influences—where sparsely populated tremolo and reverb-drenched guitars and dreamy Pet Sounds-fuelled vocals lay side-by-side with claustrophobically placed feedback and dissonant guitar attacks—and the end result is a gloriously layered, shimmering disc.
Yet while the album is definitely waiting for someone to sync it up with Dr. Strangelove or Blade Runner or whatever, it's not all laser-show-at-the-planetarium – the Besnards employ a fair share of pop hooks creating songs that can accompany a sad music montage on Veronica Mars or How I Met Your Mother as easily as they can a brick of hash, a bottle and a black light in your basement.
With such a diverse palette and unique approach, it's hard to totally capture the essence of the disc in a review. Less precious than the Arcade Fire, less accessible than the New Pornographers, less in-your-face than Metric and less scenester-personality-fuck than Broken Social Scene, Canada's sleeper act of the decade have delivered an awesome, though aptly-titled effort.
-Ben Carrozza/Dose.ca
Buy The Besnard Lakes are the Dark Horse
Lucinda Williams, West (Universal)
Rating: 5 tear-soaked tissues out of 5
The Deal: When it comes to communicating heartache, few singers or songwriters do it as compellingly as Lucinda Williams. Williams's sorrow over the death of her mother and the end of a love relationship dominate these songs. She says goodbye to her mother in "Mama You Sweet," grieves in "Everything Has Changed" and then, in "Fancy Funeral," she condemns her mother's expensive funeral and the funeral business. In "Learning How to Live" and "Are You Alright," she captures the sadness of the broken affair, which is replaced by five minutes of extreme bitterness in "Come On." But, in "Where is My Love" and "West," she also sings hopefully about love.
-Mike Regenstreif/CNS Buy West
The Junction, The Junction (Universal)
Rating: 2-1/2 noisy pop rockers out of 5
The Deal: Angry, driving metal is not the best way to introduce yourself to new listeners if you're more of a pop rock band, yet that's exactly what the Junction has done on its self-titled debut album. The first track, "Station Me," is a noisy blight on an otherwise decent debut from the Ontario-based trio. There's a bit more angry screaming on the track "Darkest Night," but the first single, "Components of Four," is downright poppy, with a catchy beat and some delightful harmonizing. "Remember Love" is another clap-happy tune. The Junction would be better off sticking to pop rock.
-Amy O'Brian/CNS Buy The Junction
© (c) CanWest MediaWorks Publications Inc.
