Albums of the Week: The Besnard Lakes - Are the Dark Horse; Ladyhawk - S/T
The ninteen-seventies. There.
I find this album is a complete re-work of the sounds of the 1970s, but one i can't get enough of. And you all know how much I (normally) hate derivative works. The guitars, the amount of reverb, the harmonies, the production values, everything. Guitar solo duels, riffs, space guitar background. organ. long songs. somehow this album has been dragged kicking and screaming into the 2000s, and i think it might be the songs.
songs for me are a difficult area, since songs usually mean lyrics. i decided in the past little while that songs were dangerous for me, and part of the reason I have a real hate-on for pop music; despite its bag of wonderful tricks (see Slave 4 U, see also No Doubt, see also too many things), lyrics suck normal people into ruttish behaviour (myself included).... so i've mostly stopped listening actively to lyrics. i now get my kicks from singer-songwriters with less pedestrian outlooks on the world (Patrick Wolf, Destroyer, Wilco, Julie Doiron, etc.), which i think is healthier for me. music can have a power over people, and its difficult at times to get out from under a spell.
but lyrics are only part of the picture of a song, as any of the Destroyer albums can teach you (especially Your Blues, which retains its captivating nature (for me at least) despite my almost-certain incapacity to fully appreciate his erudite lyricism and its total reliance on MIDI synthesizers), a song is not just its lyrics, nor is it just its window dressing.
the besnard lakes have lyrics, and the few that i pick out are pretty good in terms of being personal yet not pedestrian, deep but not "whoa, deep". they're also not the clearest to hear, which i appreciate. more relevant in my love for this album is the fact that i am a total sucker for good interplay between great bass work and textural guitar (especially arpeggiated guitar), and the horn and string touches which of course score bonus marks. all these aesthetic factors combine to leave me with songs that, despite being murky and uncertain, are enchanting and affecting, and more than ripoffs, despite how press releases try to paint them.
The Besnard Lakes; for your consideration and for all your 1970s needs.
Ladyhawk, on the other hand, hide behind far less in terms of production, and as a result their lyrics are front and centre. this isnt a genre-redefining album, friends, but its a heart-wrenching one. most of these tracks are exceedingly well-written, and have super, non-virtuostic guitar interplay as well as plenty of interesting chord colouration (who is their bass player, anyways? he's a good one).
Ladyhawk also get the local heroes award, since they're a Vancouver band (the first i've feature in this series!). hopefully after listning to this one you'll agree that they merit the attention i've paid.
sing along with Ladyhawk's self-titled album!
In retrospect, I think this week's post signals that I'm slowly starting to believe in songs and bands again. I'll never stop swimming in the experimental deep end, but I think I'm also happy to float in gentler waters closer to shore. Anyways, these are my thoughts for you, readers, on the looooong weekend. i hope you enjoy this week's selections.
As for buying these, it turns out that both these albums are out on Jagjaguwar, home also to Julie Doiron, Swan Lake, Okkervil River, and Pink Mountaintops/Black Mountain. forgive them their creative-writing workshop writeups, and give us this day more from their taste in current guitar rock. and order ye from their online catalogue.
Happy Easter!!!