''The Besnard Lakes Are the Roaring Night'' is the third studio album by the Canadian rock band
The Besnard Lakes
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, the band also includes Kevin Laing (drums), Richard White (guitar), Sheenah Ko (keyboa ...
, released in North America on March 9, 2010. The lead single, "Albatross", was released as a
12-inch single
The twelve-inch single (often written as 12-inch or 12″) is a type of vinyl ( polyvinyl chloride or PVC) gramophone record that has wider groove spacing and shorter playing time with a 'single' or a few related sound tracks on each surfac ...
on February 9, 2010.
The band describe the album as ''"
psychedelic rock
Psychedelic rock is a rock music Music genre, genre that is inspired, influenced, or representative of psychedelia, psychedelic culture, which is centered on perception-altering hallucinogenic drugs. The music incorporated new electronic sound ...
- each song is its own little world, an atmosphere. I’ve always been enamored with these songs that take forever to get going, long songs that build, with a story and a long build to a climax."''TLOBF Interview :: The Besnard Lakes Thelineofbestfit.com (2010-03-05). Retrieved on April 19, 2012. Thematically, the album continues their lyrical style of combining fictional and true stories. Main songwriters
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 b ...
and Olga Goreas have different thematical approaches to their songwriting on the album. Lasek's songs usually revolve around a retired spy who worked during the war and is now a lousy musician, while Goreas' songs are more inspired by her personal experiences.
The album was tracked and recorded at the band's own studio, Breakglass Studio, using a 1968 Neve germanium mixing console rumoured to have been used to record portions of
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are ci ...
's ''
Physical Graffiti
''Physical Graffiti'' is the sixth studio album by the English rock band Led Zeppelin. It was released as a double album on 24 February 1975 by the group's new record label, Swan Song Records.
The band wrote and recorded eight new songs for the a ...
'', and introduces some new instrumentation for the band:
12 string guitar
A twelve-string guitar (or 12-string guitar) is a steel-string guitar with 12 strings in six courses, which produces a thicker, more ringing tone than a standard six-string guitar. Typically, the strings of the lower four courses are tuned in o ...
,
flute
The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...
,
omnichord
The Omnichord is an electronic musical instrument introduced in 1981 by the Suzuki Musical Instrument Corporation. It typically features a touch plate known as "Sonic Strings", preset rhythms, auto-bass line functionality, and buttons for ma ...
, and
mellotron
The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which pushes a length of magnetic tape against a capstan, which pulls it across a playback head. A ...
.The Besnard Lakes Are The Roaring Night Jagjaguwar. Retrieved on April 19, 2012.
The album was a shortlisted nominee for the