|
Montreal-based Besnard Lakes,
built around the core duo of Jace Lasek and Olga Goreas,
debuted in the shadow of shoegazers such as
My Bloody Valentine and
Jesus And Mary Chain
with Volume 1 (2003).
Are The Dark Horse (Jagjaguwar, 2007) marked a quantum leap forward in
terms of arrangement (including strings and horns) and songwriting.
It better demonstrated the duo's ability to span several ages and styles within
the same composition: doo-wop of the 1950s, psychedelic-pop of
the 1960s, West Coast sound of the 1970s,
college-rock of the 1980s, post-rock of the 1990s,
and alt-country of the 2000s.
Fundamentally elegiac in nature
(with the notable exception of Devastation, that inherits from the Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour the sense of a surreal merry-go-round),
the program of the Besnard Lakes is a study in warping space and time via
repetition and variation, an idea best expressed in On Bedford and Grand.
That quality is given a metaphysical meaning by the
sweet slow-motion prayer of For Agent (a modern version of Popol Vuh's Hosianna Mantra with a one-minute crescendo of triumphant ecstasy)
and by
Because Tonight, that opens hypnotically with sparse echoes of reggae and
chamber music, but then intones a hymn-like melody against fibrillating guitar.
They are both spiritual oases in a desert of anguished edunism.
The dangers of Lasek's program are evident in And You Lied to Me, a bad imitation of late, melodramatic Pink Floyd, and
Disaster, that feels like Burt Bacharach in a psychedelic trance: just transposing someone else's art into the 2000s
does not qualify as art itself.
|
(Translation by/ Tradotto da Giuseppe Leone)
Are The Dark Horse (Jagjaguwar, 2007) segnò un quantico balzo in avanti in termini di arrangiamento (incorporando archi e fiati) e di composizione. L’album dimostra meglio l’abilità del duo nell’abbracciare diverse epoche e stili all’interno della stessa composizione: le armonie doo-wop degli anni ’50, il pop psichedelico degli anni ’60, il suono West Coast degli anni ’70, il college-rock degli anni ‘80, il post-rock degli anni ’90, l’alt-country del nuovo millennio. Se i saliscendi lunghi sette minuti di And You Lied to Me e Because Tonight sono gli esempi più evidenti dell’arte di Lasek, le stesse qualità emergono da Disaster, Rides the Rails e On Bedford and Grand, elegie più brevi ma non meno intense.
|
