Are The Roaring Night

Canadian champions of atmosphere, The Besnard Lakes, deliver an infusion of ambient guitars, vocal harmonies and echo that is sure to tickle the brain’s pleasure centers. On Are The Roaring Night, grinding guitar drones and soaring riffs combine with flute, mellotron, omnichord and layers of vocals to form a record that is strikingly beautiful from start to finish. The resulting sonic spectrum is elegant and ethereal: an idyllic landscape where psychedelic sounds play together in bliss. If there is a caveat to accompany this record, it is simply that it is almost all pleasure and little pain. Here, the vocal melodies lift up enigmatic lyrics that might fall flat on their own, and an abundance of harmony borders on the saccharine. Still, Are The Roaring Night succeeds on many levels, and the Besnard Lakes make good on their promise of a majestic pop experiment.