The Besnard Lakes @ Lee's Palace, January 29, 2011

The Besnard Lakes' Jace Lasek and Olga Goreas. Photos by Colleen Hale-Hodgson.

The Besnard Lakes third album, The Besnard Lakes Are The Roaring Night, is cited as one of the best albums of 2010 by notable music sites and magazines like drownedinsound.com and MOJO. Since their inception in 2003, they've gained a devoted following and racked up a couple of Polaris Prize nominations, all while sticking to an surprisingly fresh atmospheric prog-rock formula (which I thought was buried at some point during the early '80s). They were at Lee's Palace this past Saturday, along with a sold-out crowd and two hot supporting acts, Valleys and Suuns. 

Sadly, I missed all but the last song from Montreal-based openers Valleys, but judging by the way they were taking turns to pound on that drum of theirs, I would have really liked them. However, Suuns was up next and they had certainly upped their game since I saw them last November. Their set was tighter, with a better handle on the the weird, slow-burning electronic glitch freak-outs that has given their debut, Zeroes QC, so much attention. (Fun fact: The Besnard Lakes' Jace Lasek actually recorded and mixed Zeroes QC at his Montreal studio, Breakglass, back in January, 2010).

Ben Shemie of Suuns.

While lead singer Ben Shemie wasn't clutching a guitar like it was a surly cat getting its nails clipped, he was performing Ian Curtis-esque hand contortions and hissing mumbled lyrics into his microphone. Synth, bass, and keyboard player Max Henry was immersed, open-mouthed, into the knobs/keys/switches he was finger-dancing with, while Liam O'Neill and Joseph Yarmush kept the beats and guitar in a constant ebb and flow of suspense and release. There was a kinetic energy running through their set, which suits their moody elecro-post-punk songs very well, but apparently wasn't enough for Lasek who, just before their last song, leaned through a window that looks out onto the Lee's stage and used his best Statler and Waldorf impression to heckle the band.

Husband and wife duo Lasek and Olga Goreas co-front The Besnard Lakes with guitarist Richard White and drummer Kevin Laing rounding out the team. While the set-up is pretty basic (two guitars, bass, drums, and the occasional keyboard) the sounds they create fill a vast expanse. Their neo-prog-rock aesthetic can sometimes bring to mind the cheesy Stonehenge theatrics of a Spinal Tap variety, but the pure skill exhibited in their music tends to overshadow that aspect.

Toronto was their first and last stop on the tour supporting 2010's The Besnard Lakes Are The Roaring Night. They seemed a bit tired (it didn't help that Lasek was suffering from a bad cold and too much Aleve), but they still put a lot of energy into their performance.

It's great seeing full-on rock bands like this one. It's not something I usually go for, but I was impressed with their album and wanted to give them a shot. The stage set-up wasn't anything special (just a set of strobe lights and copious amounts of fog), but the huge waves of sound the group produced pointed to my ticket and said, "This is why you're not missing that $15." Aiding the wall-of-sound were some impressive instruments and toys - not one but two 12-string guitars, a truly massive bass guitar, and an ebow, which featured heavily on a couple of choice tracks.

While I love the wall-of-sound aspect of The Besnard Lakes Are The Roaring Night, I love the harmonies even more. They play up this trait in this album more than their previous ones, making the gloomy atmospherics more accisible to melody-lovers. However, while on the album you can have the vocals mixed in perfectly with your wailing guitar and smashing drums, things aren't always as smooth live. For the most part, all the vocals were clear (Lasek's voice, in particular, features a perfect Rock-and-Roll-Hall-of-Fame-worthy falsetto), but some of the nicer harmonies on the album lacked coherence when pitted against the live jumble of shrieks and drones, as well as some unforgiving acoustics. 

This was a fun, brass-tacks sort of performance that, aside from a cold and some bass drum issues, went pretty smoothly. The crowd wasn't as into it as I think they should have been (I was at the front and it was pretty loose up there for a rock concert), but were still vocal in appreciating the band's efforts (repeated calls to play "For Agent 13" off of The Besnard Lakes Are the Dark Horse sadly went unheeded).

After a well-deserved break, The Besnard Lakes will be taking their show on the road again for a short tour in Australia, while Suuns is heading to Europe and Valleys will be heading to SXSW in March. Check out The Besnard Lakes Are The Roaring Night stunner "Albatross" below.

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EDIT: I've added some additional photographs after the jump in case you're interested.

Suuns - The Silver Dollar Room - November 26, 2010

Suuns, basking in the red-hued glow of internet buzz. Photo by Colleen Hale-Hodgson.

It happened like this: Suuns played New York City's CMJ festival in October and managed to get a shout out on one of my favourite music programs, All Songs Considered. I dig this sound. I should remember to check this band out later. Then, a week or so later I spy a tweet from Daytrotter advertising their recent session with Suuns. Oh yes! I forgot to remember to check out this band! Here another opportunity. After being suitably impressed (again) by the sounds from their Daytrotter session I decide I must remember to see this group live sometime. Cut to Google Reader and Chromeowaves' RSS feed. There's a small footnote on a review of Gregory & The Hawk’s Leche that Suuns will be playing the Silver Dollar Room the upcoming Friday.. It's settled. The nail in the coffin comes later during a random visit to CBC Radio 3's website, where its online player opens to - what else - Sunns' "Arena". What is this (other than a verbose way to say that I saw Suuns this past Friday)? It's a look at how music aficionados discover new bands to pay attention to, and how buzz bands are born.

Show openers Tezeta and Little Girls are local and, at least in the case of Little Girls, have a strong following in many Toronto music circles. Little Girls went on second and were solid, but didn't really wow me like I would have liked. Tezeta, which came on first, was an interesting enough set to write a little more on.

Tezeta had problems from the start. Sole member Joseph Viktor Arthur Roth needs a serious injection of confidence juice, and I hope he gets it soon because from what little he did play was not as bad as he said it was. He started his set by mumbling something about how it wouldn't be very good, then played a nice, spacey sample riff piece called "Ties," with his swooning baritone voice that reminded me a bit of Beirut's Zach Condon. He then called upon a few members of Little Girls to play alongside, which was where things started to fall apart. After two songs he abruptly kicked the other players off the stage and said he wouldn't play any more. After several catcalls and shouts of bemused encouragement from the audience, he relented and started to play one last song, which he promptly abandoned again. Like I said, it's too bad because Roth has a nice voice, but probably isn't ready to share his music live.  

When Suuns took to the small Silver Dollar stage, however, there was no question of whether or not these guys had the confidence to hold the crowd. Suuns make dark electro-infused post-punk music. It's moody and precise, and the more time you spend with it, the more it grows on you. This trend of indie bands adding synth to the normal guitar/bass/drum setup is both good and bad; on the one hand you've got explorations in texture, and the combination of traditional melody constructs with drone or glitched-out beats allows for more complex emotional revelations. On the other hand you've got synth-as-filler bands (where you have the only girl in the band behind a tiny keyboard pushing keys but not really making any noise), or "bands" who show up at venues with a laptop and skinny jeans and not much else. As the night went on, Suuns exemplified the correct way to integrate synth, sound pedals, and other elecronic devices into an otherwise traditional mould - making it an integral part of their overall sound rather than a fun sidenote.

Ben Shemie's restrained vocals added tension to an already anxiety-ridden sound. Each song felt ready to burst into a rollicking rock jam, but rarely - if ever - unleashed the pent up rock trying to get out. That tension added to the moody atmosphere, but also contributed to the show eventually delvolving (evolving?) into a moshpit/dance party, which should say something about the Suuns' strength in rhythm (and will hopefully lead to Suuns dance remixes in the future). 

They didn't over-reach on the record, which would have meant creating music that they couldn't replicate live, and that may be what saved them from one of the most common pitfalls modern indie bands often fall prey to. So many bands simply do not have either the manpower or the musical dexterity to re-produce their ambitious recordings in a live setting. Based on this interview with NOW, this was intentional move on Suuns' part, in order to keep the live show strong. This was a good decision, and will allow for a more expanded sound on later records, when they can afford to bring in other musicians to play with what is already a very exciting material.