Montreal's The Besnard Lakes may have come late to the Canadian lovefest that the U.S. of Indie has been taking part in for the better part of five years, but they have certainly made their presence known. And the band, led by partners-in-life Jace Lasek & Olga Goreas, achieved this not by forming a large band (six people seems reasonable to me)1 , being served a C&D by James Murphy2, or stealing some guy's basketball3. With an appropriately titled album, Are The Dark Horse (Jagjaguwar), filled with, at times, noir, orchestral, pastoral, and bombastic sounds, the band has garnered them slow but steady love and praise.
The group formed in 2001, releasing their first LP, Volume 1, two years later. Since then, Lasek has produced many notable Canadie (coined by me, I think, right now) bands, including Stars, The Dears, and Wolf Parade. Following the February release of ATDH, the band has been touring around the globe, and they are set to begin another jaunt in a couple weeks. The Lakes are playing the States in mid July, with a preamble starting in the band's homeland Wednesday. The American leg has the band playing shows with Les Savy Fav and Dirty On Purpose, as well as fellow country people Land of Talk and Handsome Furs.
Soon after the tour, the group plans on releasing a 12-inch single for "Casino Nanaimo." While Side A is the title track, Side B holds "Devastation (alternate version)," the original nine-minute, unedited demo version found on TBL's latest LP. Look for the 12-inch on Jagjaguwar September 11, and look for the dates of the tour below.
@ Les Savy Fav + Land of Talk
# Dirty on Purpose
^ Handsome Furs
1 I was thinking Broken Social Scene
2 DFA79
3 The Arcade Fire
