The Besnard Lakes

Civil Society is proud to announce the debut Australian tour of The Besnard Lakes. Touring off the back of their third studio album ‘The Besnard Lakes Are The Roaring Night’, the six-piece Quebecois collective will bless Australian music lovers with their breathtaking Pink Floyd meets Beach Boys live show.


Emerging from Montreal’s dark corners is THE BESNARD LAKES, a band centered on the atmospheric songs of husband and wife team Jace Lasek and Olga Goreas, whose expansive sound culls from, but does not adhere to, numerous aspects of rock ‘n’ roll’s rich history.

Their latest album “The Besnard Lakes Are The Roaring Night” was released in early 2010 on Jagjaguwar (Gayngs, Ladyhawk, Bon Iver) - receiving universal critical acclaim and whirlwinds of buzz in the blogosphere. The album was recorded at singer Lasek’s own Breakglass Studios using a Neve germanium mixing console rumoured to have been used to record Led Zeppelin’s Physical Grafitti. The Breakglass Studio has been the studio of choice for bands like Wolf Parade, Islands and Holy F*ck, whose albums Lasek himself produced. These bands have also toured and performed with The Besnard Lakes, while members of Stars, The Dears and Godspeed/Silver Mt. Zion make guest appearances in much or their recorded music.

The Besnard Lakes recent music calls upon the influence of ELO and finer parts of the Alan Parsons Project in its orchestration, and is haunted by ghostly harmonies of the Beach Boys. The music bursts with sublime boy/girl (husband/wife!) harmonies that float above crashing drums and epic guitar solos; elsewhere, boozy organ lurches around ethereal vocals and reverb heavy guitars. And that’s just the beginning for a band that weaves a seamless course between pop melodies and experimental structures, creating a sound that is equal parts spooky and pretty, and more than a little psychedelic. Comparisons to The Beach Boys and Pink Floyd are inevitable, while fans of both My Bloody Valentine and The Mamas And The Papas will find a lot to like, too.

Listen to any song from ‘The Besnard Lakes Are The Roaring Night’, and its hard not to be excited by the thought of hearing such majestic, sprawling, and grandiosely epic music in a live context.