The Besnard Lakes Are The Roaring Night (Bonus Track Version)

Montreal’s Besnard Lakes are an audiophile’s dream. Led by singer-guitarist Jace Lasek, an in-demand independent Canadian record producer, Besnard Lakes excel at an atmospheric sound that ignores genre limits and creates its own sonic space. His wife, bassist and singer Olga Goreas, adds her ghostly touches as the sound grinds into heavier than expected territory with the seven-minute, prog-rock induced, “Like the Ocean, Like the Innocent, Pt. 2: The Innocent.” There’s a gentle shoegazer haze to the falsetto-chime of “Chicago Train.” ”Albatross” skates away on a Cocteau Twins-like ‘80s synth-led melody and a thick backing chorus that swerves with a nervous flutter. “Glass Printer” kicks up the distortion for a Gothic attack, while “Land of Living Skies, Pt. 2: The Living Skies” floats like the slo-core band Low (or its offshoot Retribution Gospel Choir) with long, languid phrases and warm, enveloping walls of guitar. “And This Is What We Call Progress” quickens the pace. “The Lonely Moan” closes things on an ambient tone-poem wave. Perfect for headphone listening.