The Besnard Lakes
Encyclopedia
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, two of their three albums have been nominated for the Polaris Music Prize
.
. 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 number stations
as first made popular in recordings such as The Conet Project
.
The film Sympathy for Delicious
, from actor/director Mark Ruffalo
, will have a score composed by The Besnard Lakes.
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 Besnard Lakes wrote and performed the music 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)." On September 20, the group will release their score for Welcome to Pine Point as a twelve-inch EP entitled You Lived in the City. The album will also feature a previously unreleased outtake from their score for the film Memories Corner, entitled "The Corner."
Indie rock
Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...
band from Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. Formed in 2003 by the husband and wife team of Jace Lasek
Jace Lasek
Jace Lasek is a Canadian musician and producer living in Montreal. He and his wife Olga Goreas are the principal songwriters for the Montreal-based indie rock band The Besnard Lakes. Lasek plays guitar, bass, drums and keyboards. He is also the band's lead vocalist.Furthermore, Lasek runs...
and Olga Goreas, two of their three albums have been nominated for the Polaris Music Prize
Polaris Music Prize
The Polaris Music Prize is a music award annually given to the best full-length Canadian album based on artistic merit, regardless of genre, sales, or record label...
.
History
The band are currently a four-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 SaskatchewanSaskatchewan
Saskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....
. The band's second album, The Besnard Lakes Are the Dark Horse
The Besnard Lakes Are the Dark Horse
The Besnard Lakes Are the Dark Horse is the second studio album by the Canadian rock band The Besnard Lakes, released in 2007 . The album was The Besnard Lakes' first release on indie label Jagjaguwar and was self-produced by bandleaders Jace Lasek and Olga Goreas...
was recorded at singer Lasek's own Breakglass Studios, with members of Stars, The Dears
The Dears
-History:The band formed in 1995 and released their first album, End of a Hollywood Bedtime Story, in 2000. Their orchestral, dark pop sound and dramatic live shows cemented The Dears at the foundation of the then-emerging Canadian indie renaissance...
and Godspeed You! Black Emperor
Godspeed You! Black Emperor
Godspeed You! Black Emperor is a Canadian post-rock band which originated from Montreal, Quebec in 1994...
/Silver Mt. Zion making guest appearances. It was nominated for the 2007 Polaris Music Prize
2007 Polaris Music Prize
The 2007 edition of the Canadian Polaris Music Prize was presented on September 24, 2007 in Toronto.The winning album was Patrick Watson's Close to Paradise....
. Many songs on The Besnard Lakes Are the Dark Horse are prefaced by recordings from shortwave radio number stations
Numbers station
A numbers station is a shortwave radio station of uncertain origin. In the 1950s, Time magazine reported that the numbers stations first appeared shortly after World War II and were using a format that had been used to send weather data during that war.Numbers stations generally broadcast...
as first made popular in recordings such as The Conet Project
The Conet Project
The Conet Project: Recordings of Shortwave Numbers Stations is a four-CD set of recordings of numbers stations, mysterious shortwave radio stations of uncertain origin believed to be operated by government agencies to communicate with spies "in the field"...
.
The film Sympathy for Delicious
Sympathy for Delicious
Sympathy for Delicious is a 2010 drama film, and the directorial debut of Mark Ruffalo. Filming took place in Los Angeles.-Plot:A newly paralyzed DJ gets more than he bargained for when he seeks out the world of faith healing.-Cast:...
, from actor/director Mark Ruffalo
Mark Ruffalo
Mark Alan Ruffalo is an American actor, director, producer and screenwriter. He starred in films such as Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Zodiac, Shutter Island, Just Like Heaven, You Can Count on Me and The Kids Are All Right for which he received an Academy Award nomination for Best...
, will have a score composed by The Besnard Lakes.
A third studio album, The Besnard Lakes Are the Roaring Night
The Besnard Lakes Are the Roaring Night
The Besnard Lakes Are the Roaring Night is the third studio album by the Canadian rock band The Besnard Lakes, released in North America on March 9, 2010. The lead single, "Albatross", was released as a 12-inch single on February 9, 2010....
, 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
2010 Polaris Music Prize
The 2010 edition of the Canadian Polaris Music Prize was presented on September 20, 2010. The gala presentation was held at Toronto's Masonic Temple, and was hosted by Grant Lawrence of CBC Radio 3 and Sarah Taylor of MuchMusic....
.
The Besnard Lakes wrote and performed the music score for the National Film Board of Canada
National Film Board of Canada
The National Film Board of Canada is Canada's twelve-time Academy Award-winning public film producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary, animation, alternative drama and digital media productions...
web documentary
Web documentary
A web documentary, interactive documentary or multimedia documentary is a documentary production that differs from the more traditional forms—video, audio, photographic—by applying a full complement of multimedia tools...
Welcome to Pine Point
Welcome to Pine Point
Welcome to Pine Point is a 2011 interactive web documentary by Michael Simons and Paul Shoebridge, collectively known as The Goggles, formerly creative directors of Adbusters magazine. The website explores the memories of residents from the former mining community of Pine Point, Northwest...
. 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
Trooper (band)
Trooper is a Juno Award winning Canadian rock band that developed from a group formed by vocalist Ramon McGuire and guitarist Brian Smith in 1975...
single, "We're Here For a Good Time (Not a Long Time)." On September 20, the group will release their score for Welcome to Pine Point as a twelve-inch EP entitled You Lived in the City. The album will also feature a previously unreleased outtake from their score for the film Memories Corner, entitled "The Corner."
Singles
- "Would Anybody Come To Visit Me" (10", Static CaravanStatic Caravan RecordingsStatic Caravan Recordings is an independent record label, whose discography includes releases by Darren Hayman, The Hornblower Brothers, Shady Bard, The Yellow Moon Band, Tunng, Peter Astor, Magnetophone, Fieldhead and Serafina Steer....
, 2005) - "Casino Nanaimo" (12", Jagjaguwar, 2007)
- "For Agent 13" (2007)
- "Albatross" (12", Jagjaguwar, 2010)
- You Lived in the City (12", Jagjaguwar, September 2011)
Albums
- Volume 1Volume 1 (The Besnard Lakes album)Volume 1 is the debut album from Canadian rock band The Besnard Lakes. Only a thousand copies were made for the 2003 release. The album was rereleased on a larger scale October 23, 2007....
(BreakglassBreakglass StudioBreakglass Studios is an analog and digital recording studio in Montreal, Canada. Local and international bands have recorded there, such as The Besnard Lakes, Les Breastfeeders, Bionic, Holy Fuck, Islands, Patrick Watson, Stars, Sunset Rubdown, The Unicorns, Voilà!, Wintersleep, Wolf Parade and...
/EarwormEarworm RecordsEarworm Records was a London-based independent record label, with its first release by the band Hood in 1997. Other bands to release music on the label include Yo La Tengo, Of Montreal, Stars of the Lid, Windy & Carl, Portal, The Besnard Lakes, Fridge, Damon & Naomi and Magnétophone....
, 2003) - The Besnard Lakes Are the Dark HorseThe Besnard Lakes Are the Dark HorseThe Besnard Lakes Are the Dark Horse is the second studio album by the Canadian rock band The Besnard Lakes, released in 2007 . The album was The Besnard Lakes' first release on indie label Jagjaguwar and was self-produced by bandleaders Jace Lasek and Olga Goreas...
(JagjaguwarJagjaguwarJagjaguwar is an indie rock record label based in Bloomington, Indiana.-History:In 1996, in Charlottesville, Virginia, friends of Darius Van Arman who performed in a band under the moniker The Curious Digit had just recorded a new album, but they were signed to no label...
, 2007) - The Besnard Lakes Are the Roaring NightThe Besnard Lakes Are the Roaring NightThe Besnard Lakes Are the Roaring Night is the third studio album by the Canadian rock band The Besnard Lakes, released in North America on March 9, 2010. The lead single, "Albatross", was released as a 12-inch single on February 9, 2010....
(JagjaguwarJagjaguwarJagjaguwar is an indie rock record label based in Bloomington, Indiana.-History:In 1996, in Charlottesville, Virginia, friends of Darius Van Arman who performed in a band under the moniker The Curious Digit had just recorded a new album, but they were signed to no label...
, 2010)
See also
- Canadian musical groups
- Canadian rockCanadian rockCanadian rock describes a wide and diverse variety of music produced by Canadians, beginning with American style rock 'n' roll in the mid-20th century. Since then Canada has had a considerable impact on the development of the modern popular music called rock...
- List of bands from Canada
- List of Canadian musicians