The Besnard Lakes, The Besnard Lakes Are The Dark Horse

Music bloggers love to compare The Besnard Lakes to the Beach Boys. It’s true; try navigating your way through the webosphere to find a blog and/or zine that doesn’t — they’re not there. And yes, this six-piece indie outfit from Montreal has clearly taken some harmonic cues from the ’60s (pre-Uncle Jessie on drums) super group, particularly on the gorgeously-crafted “For Agent 13,” but that’s only part of the story. On The Besnard Lakes Are The Dark Horse (released February 20th on Jagjaguwar), husband and wife Jace Lasek and Olga Goreas take listeners through an expansive array of orchestral pop-rock that’s reminiscent of early Sigur Rós, placing them firmly in the center of the post-rock genre made hugely popular these days by the likes of Grizzly Bear and Menomena.

But there is something different about The Besnard Lakes, something that allows listeners to relate to them in ways they can’t to other bands in this genre — they don’t take themselves too seriously. Whether singing about spies, riding the rails, or the pleasures of begging a girl not to leave, The Besnard Lakes get it. They seem to understand what it takes to exist in a world that is at the same time critically adored and popularly accessible — and, as we all know, there are but a few bands that are allowed to live there with them (or maybe just one; Sufjan, anyone?). The Besnard Lakes Are The Dark Horse will stay with you for days — try to listen to it and not want to listen to it again. And then again. It might be impossible. And isn’t it wonderful to stumble upon an album that can do that?

There is something great happening in Montreal these days, and The Besnard Lakes are doing their part in making us all jealous we don’t live there.