By: Myles Herod April 2, 2013
It never clicked that The Besnard Lakes might be a shoe-gaze band. Yet, after their show at Lee’s Palace, there was no doubt left in my mind.
I despise using the word ‘cosmic’, but that is what I was met with, a swirl of colossal sounds making up the band’s forthcoming LP, Until in Excess, Imperceptible UFO; an exclusive unveiling of sorts to those in attendance.
The Montreal troupe are a hard one to pin down sonically – analog keyboards, dense guitar effects and falsetto vocals, courtesy of frontman Jace Laske, which would make Brian Wilson blush.
Truthfully, the encapsulation of their set was a headphone album played live, like a Canadian My Bloody Valentine, but with a tip of the hat to Neil Young at his most wasted. The key ingredient, mind you, congealing the beautiful mess into a devastating whole remains the chemistry of Lasek and his wife Olga Goreas, utilizing a sense of intimacy that gives the band its ‘edge’.
Finishing a setlist of entirely new material at 2am, fans were treated to a handful of old cuts. By then it was too late, The Besnard Lakes had transported me to another realm, world, and all of the above. They are truly a band to be reckoned with – one of epic portions.