The Besnard Lakes

The Besnard Lakes Are the Dark Horse (Jagjaguwar)

Montrealer Jace Lacek’s falsetto is what Sixties beach bunnies dreamt of: “Baby, I’ve got some words for you.” Except Lacek’s Frankie Avalon would be the chain-smoker in leather. Along with wife and bandmate Olga Goreas, Lacek guzzles a cocktail of hallucinogenic daydreams and spills it all over The Besnard Lakes Are the Dark Horse, the sextet’s second foray into psych-pop fusion. The push and pull of Goreas-Lacek duet “For Agent 13” is all black-and-white, water dripping from the frame of a silent movie. Where the eeriness ends, the Zeppelin explodes with “On Bedford and Grand,” only to be triumphed by closing pseudo-doo-wop “Cedric’s War.” The Besnard Lakes have perfected psychedelic harmonies and slurring melodies, but they’re so much bigger than that. Each pluck of a violin string, each muffled vocal, each sneaky blast of a trumpet creates a lingering solar eclipse and eternal bonfire. (Thursday, March 15, Mohawk Patio, 8:30pm)

***.5

This article appears in March 16 • 2007.

A note to readers: Bold and uncensored, The Austin Chronicle has been Austin’s independent news source for over 40 years, expressing the community’s political and environmental concerns and supporting its active cultural scene. Now more than ever, we need your support to continue supplying Austin with independent, free press. If real news is important to you, please consider making a donation of $5, $10 or whatever you can afford, to help keep our journalism on stands.

SUPPORT US