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    Posted: September 24 2018 at 09:58

The Besnard Lakes

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Besnard Lakes
BesnardLakesTapeMachineDark.jpg
The Besnard Lakes. (Left to right: Kevin Laing, Richard White, Jace Lasek, Olga Goreas)
Background information
OriginMontreal, Quebec, Canada
GenresIndie rock, shoegaze, post-rock, new prog
Years active2003–present
LabelsJagjaguwar
Outside Music
Static Caravan
Websitewww.thebesnardlakes.com
MembersJace Lasek
Olga Goreas
Kevin Laing
Richard White
Sheenah Ko
Robbie MacArthur
Past membersSteve Raegele
Jeremiah Bullied
Nicole Lizée

The Besnard Lakes are a Canadian indie rock band from Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Formed in 2003 by the husband and wife team of Jace Lasek and Olga Goreas, the band also includes Kevin Laing (drums), Richard White (guitar), Sheenah Ko (keyboards) and Robbie MacArthur (guitar).

Two of the band's five albums have been nominated for the Polaris Music Prize.


Early career

[edit]

The band are currently a six-piece centered around the atmospheric songs of Lasek and Goreas, whose expansive sound draws from numerous aspects of rock 'n' roll history. The band's name comes from Besnard Lake in North-Central Saskatchewan. The band's second album, The Besnard Lakes Are the Dark Horse was recorded at singer Lasek's own Breakglass Studios, with members of Stars, The Dears and Godspeed You! Black Emperor/Silver Mt. Zion making guest appearances. It was nominated for the 2007 Polaris Music Prize. Many songs on The Besnard Lakes Are the Dark Horse are prefaced by recordings from shortwave radio stations as first made popular in recordings such as The Conet Project.

A third studio album, The Besnard Lakes Are the Roaring Night, was released on Jagjaguwar on March 9, 2010. A 12" record featuring album track "Albatross" and "Four Long Lines" was released on February 9, 2010. This album was a shortlisted nominee for the  2010 Polaris Music Prize.

The band wrote their first film score for the film Sympathy for Delicious, from actor/director Mark Ruffalo. They also wrote and performed the score for the National Film Board Of Canada web documentary Welcome to Pine Point. The collaboration came about when Lasek was approached by the website's co-creator Mike Simons, an old friend from high school. The soundtrack includes their reworking of the Trooper single, "We're Here For a Good Time (Not a Long Time)." The group released their score for Welcome to Pine Point as a twelve-inch EP entitled You Lived in the City. The album also features a previously unreleased outtake from their score for the film Memories Corner, entitled "The Corner."

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________


Sample tracks (I have absolutely no idea how some members get You Tube links to appear "in line" - other forums I'm a member of automatically show them either inline or not, and members don't have the choice. So these are as they are...)


1. "Albatross"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXB87SRv8Yg


2. "The Plain Moon"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZ01b5Y_hNE


3. "Colour Yr Lights In"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BN_rm_-hwPs





Edited by TiddK - September 25 2018 at 11:28
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Ideally in order to get this suggestion checked out by one of our evaluation teams you would need to specify a recognized sub genre in your topic title. We don't actually have a 'new prog' sub genre as such, and from a quick listen to the YouTube samples I'm hearing mainly shoegaze, which doesn't really fall within the scope of this site at all to the best of my knowledge. The only sub genre of ours where they just might have a very outside chance of inclusion would be Crossover, but I feel it would be a long shot at best (though I could be totally wrong of course).

Anyhow, more samples of their work would be needed to make a decision, and although they have a bandcamp where all their work can be purchased, very few tracks can be actually streamed there, so we will need to resort to spotify to hear the albums in full: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2hMif9QK1Knz7gD5XIUsER (hyperlink deliberately omitted to avoid CAPTCHA rejection of post).
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Originally posted by yam yam yam yam wrote:

Ideally in order to get this suggestion checked out by one of our evaluation teams you would need to specify a recognized sub genre in your topic title. We don't actually have a 'new prog' sub genre as such, and from a quick listen to the YouTube samples I'm hearing mainly shoegaze, which doesn't really fall within the scope of this site at all to the best of my knowledge. The only sub genre of ours where they just might have a very outside chance of inclusion would be Crossover, but I feel it would be a long shot at best (though I could be totally wrong of course).

Anyhow, more samples of their work would be needed to make a decision, and although they have a bandcamp where all their work can be purchased, very few tracks can be actually streamed there, so we will need to resort to spotify to hear the albums in full: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2hMif9QK1Knz7gD5XIUsER (hyperlink deliberately omitted to avoid CAPTCHA rejection of post).

I think that you  SHOULD have a 'new prog' sub-genre - this is the Prog Archives after all!

Perhaps I didn't choose the most 'prog' of their output, just the first 3 videos Google came up with. However I'm hearing a lot of Radiohead influence in their work, and if that's not progressive, then what is?

The two albums I personally have are The Besnard Lakes Are The Dark Horse, and The Besnard Lakes Are The Roaring Night. (If members want to hear the same as what I'm hearing.) Perhaps a better representative track would be 
'Land Of The Living Skies' : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuCqJKxI3K8

The You Tube post has this as an introduction:
The Besnard Lakes, the Montreal collective fronted by husband-and-wife duo Olga Goreas and Jace Lasek, has returned, crafting a majestic, sprawling vision of guitar bombast and captivating pop experiments. On March 9th of 2010 (March 8th in the UK), Jagjaguwar released The Besnard Lakes Are the Roaring Night, a twisting chronicle of spies, double agents, novelists and aspiring rock gods turned violent. Loyalty, dishonor, love, and hatred are all seen through the eyes of two spies, communicating through short wave in code and fighting a war that may or may not be real.
 Sounds pretty progressive to me!!!


Edited by TiddK - September 25 2018 at 09:28
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Another bio from AllMusic: https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-besnard-lakes-mn0000938745/biography

"The Besnard Lakes raise immediate comparisons to the Arcade Fire, but those are primarily due to accidents of geography and band chemistry: like the Arcade Fire, the Besnard Lakes are from Montreal and led by a married couple. That's largely where the similarities end, because if this Quebecois collective resembles any of its Canadian counterparts, it would be as an unexpectedly effective combination of the Dears' psychedelic pop hooks and the languid space rock ambience of early Broken Social Scene. The aforementioned married couple, singer and guitarist Jace Lasek and singer and bassist Olga Goreas, formed the Besnard Lakes in 2001 as a sideline to Lasek's day job as an in-demand producer at the Montreal recording studio he and Goreas own, Breakglass Studios. (Lasek has produced and engineered records by Wolf Parade, the Dears, Stars, and many other Canadian indie acts.) The band was originally a full-time project, but before it could record its debut album, the other members of the band left. Undaunted, Lasek and Goreas recorded nearly all of 2003's Besnard Lakes, Vol.1 on their own during down time at the studio, then self-released the result. Following the album's glowing reviews, a touring lineup eventually solidified with guitarists Steve Raegele and Jeremiah Bullied, and drummer Kevin Laing. During sessions for the band's second album, Bullied was replaced by Richard White and keyboardist and arranger Nicole Lizée joined the band. Signing to the venerable dream pop indie label Jagjaguwar, the Besnard Lakes released their second album, The Besnard Lakes Are the Dark Horse, in February 2007 and followed it up with The Besnard Lakes Are the Roaring Night in March 2010. 2011 saw the band embark on a couple of different soundtracking projects, including the recording of music for both Mark Ruffalo's Sympathy for Delicious and a multimedia documentary entitled Welcome to Pine Point. During that same year, they began sessions for what would eventually become 2013's Until in Excess, Imperceptible UFO, which was longlisted for that year's prestigious Polaris Music Prize. A Coliseum Complex Museum, the group's sixth studio long-player, followed in early 2016, with an EP, The Besnard Lakes Are the Divine Wind, arriving in early 2017."

It's going to be tough getting this suggestion noticed by collaborators with 'new prog' in the topic title (there's not even a remote chance of this being added here as a sub genre lol!) There are certainly some elements of Psych/Space and Post Rock in this music, but not enough I wouldn't think to make them a serious candidate for inclusion in either of those subs. I still reckon that if you want to give them a chance of being evaluated, you might want to consider editing the topic title to include the word 'Crossover' (with a question mark after it) rather than 'new prog'. The leader of the Crossover team here has also worked with the Psych/Space team in the past, so he will be in a pretty good position to judge whether or not they have any chance.

Arcade Fire (mentioned in the above bio, though not as a direct comparison music-wise) were once added here during the early days of the site before we had proper evaluation teams, but after a wave of protest from members, the site owner M@X removed them. Things are much tougher now for indie bands with prog tendencies!
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Originally posted by yam yam yam yam wrote:

 
It's going to be tough getting this suggestion noticed by collaborators with 'new prog' in the topic title (there's not even a remote chance of this being added here as a sub genre lol!) There are certainly some elements of Psych/Space and Post Rock in this music, but not enough I wouldn't think to make them a serious candidate for inclusion in either of those subs. I still reckon that if you want to give them a chance of being evaluated, you might want to consider editing the topic title to include the word 'Crossover' (with a question mark after it) rather than 'new prog'. The leader of the Crossover team here has also worked with the Psych/Space team in the past, so he will be in a pretty good position to judge whether or not they have any chance.

Arcade Fire (mentioned in the above bio, though not as a direct comparison music-wise) were once added here during the early days of the site before we had proper evaluation teams, but after a wave of protest from members, the site owner M@X removed them. Things are much tougher now for indie bands with prog tendencies!

~~~~~ Why is that, out of interest?

~~~~~ Will do.

~~~~~ Again, why is that? Is it because there are so many? If so, I'd like to just say that many obscure late 60s / early 70s bands have disappeared almost without trace, so if we have the chance to add such modern equivalents to the PA database, shouldn't we?


Edited by TiddK - September 25 2018 at 11:28
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Footnote:

I see you have Steely Dan in the database. Now I LOVE them, they're one of my favourite ever artists. Hardly a bad track. But progressive? Well, in a way, kind of, yes, especially as a 'fusion'. 

But if you're going to have the inimitable Dan in the database, then surely Besnard Lakes are even more progressive?
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there's not even a remote chance of this being added here as a sub genre lol! - The 'Nu Prog' sub genre was discussed here: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=62988, and here: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=55434, with a list of several other threads which covered the subject of new sub genres near the bottom of the first thread, and there have probably been several similar threads since.
 
The other thing to consider is that even if there was the consensus amongst our higher ranking collaborators (many of whom have left the site for good since this dreaded bug-ridden CAPTCHA thingy was introduced at the beginning of last year) to add new sub genre(s) to the site, the site owner M@X would have to implement its/their addition, and he has now completely lost interest in the site, and rarely even visits it anymore.

Things are much tougher now for indie bands with prog tendencies! - Is it because there are so many? - Yes!

Steely Dan was another somewhat controversial addition from 2007, which has survived. There were several suggestions for them before that, and one for Donald Fagen and Walter Becker solo since.
 
The main Steely Dan thread was here: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=41979, with a poll here: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=51282, and the proposal for inclusion as solo artists was here: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=106657.

Some of the questions you raise here will surely attract further comments from other PA members and collaborators, and hopefully some of these comments will relate directly to the chances of The Besnard Lakes being given a place here.


Edited by yam yam - September 25 2018 at 15:12
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Thanks for all that yam yam (you're from the Black Country?).

Just two, hopefully quick, further questions:

1. What is a 'collaborator', exactly?
2. If the owner has lost interest, hasn't he nominated someone else to implement additions?
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Originally posted by TiddK TiddK wrote:

Thanks for all that yam yam (you're from the Black Country?).
Ar! lol!

Collaborators are members who take an active role in building up our database and expanding the scope of the site. Often a Collaborator is assigned to a specific sub genre team helping with the task of determining which artists should be added and creating band biographies and discographies. They have four stars over their avatar (along with established and recognized Prog Reviewers) and can access the hidden collaborator zone.

We also have Special Collaborators, who are collaborators or prog reviewers who take a permanent active role in building up the database and expanding the scope of the site. Special Collaborators are also often assigned to a specific sub genre, and can add bands to the database, help with the task of determining which artists should be added, prepare biographies and fix errors. Special Collaborators have 5 stars over their avatar.

Your own personal next step up the ladder will be to Senior Member status (three stars over your avatar). It covers everyone else who has made 100 posts or more (though we also have a few 'VIP members', a term which is really just an acknowledgement for people who have been around the site for a while, visit regularly, and make a positive contribution in the forum - without necessarily writing reviews or doing other collaborative work).

Originally posted by TiddK TiddK wrote:

2. If the owner has lost interest, hasn't he nominated someone else to implement additions?
No...He has completely lost interest lol!

Edit: We do have admins of course, three of whom are currently active. They are based in different continents and time zones to help keep the site running smoothly pretty much at all times. The admin team helps oversee the forum, manage and edit reviews, and co-ordinate collaborator efforts. They have a pretty comprehensive admin toolkit, and can do quite a lot of things, but can't make structural changes to the way the site is organized, such as adding a new sub genre, and can't delete an artist from the database once they have been added.


Edited by yam yam - September 26 2018 at 07:55
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Have had a quick listen to their samples above, and I've felt it's doubtful they can be fit for PA.

Crossover Team get happier if you can send me their entire album.
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All their full albums and singles are on spotify, Keishiro: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2hMif9QK1Knz7gD5XIUsER.
 
There have been some very short EPs too (5 I think, ranging from 2-4 tracks), but that spotify link will give you the vast bulk of their discography. Thumbs Up
 
Some of the EPs as playlists on YouTube anyway:
 
 
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Originally posted by DamoXt7942 DamoXt7942 wrote:

Have had a quick listen to their samples above, and I've felt it's doubtful they can be fit for PA.

Crossover Team get happier if you can send me their entire album.

That might be a problem - I bought individual tracks from albums when I was a member of emusic, so I don't have an entire album.

There are hundreds of uploads on You Tube but I had to scroll quite a way before I found a full album:


I do have this uneasy feeling that if this band were around in the early 70s they would now be classed as 'prog', as they don't sound like anyone else who was around at the time. However, I can also see that those who now define 'prog' using very strict and specific parameters might differ on this.
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^ Don't worry, there are enough samples available now from various sources to carry out an evaluation, and you can follow its progress here: http://progfreak.com/The-Besnard-Lakes-171293.html?path=pa/recent. The symbol with two cogs means 'Need Time', and more symbols will appear above this as the votes are cast. You can see what the other symbols used on progfreak mean here: http://progfreak.com/The-Besnard-Lakes-171293.html?path=pa/crossover_prog. The team currently has three members, but I'm not sure whether you will need all three votes to be in favour for The Besnard Lakes to be 'cleared', or just two of the three.

All will be revealed in the fullness of time!
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Thanks!
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