Today’s single is the follow up to “Raindrops” which was picked up by, among others, Brooklyn Vegan, Exclaim!, Northern Transmissions, and Under The Radar. Stereogum noted, "’Raindrops is right in that dreamy, hazy sweet spot this band has.”
The Last of the Great Thunderstorm Warnings marks The Besnard Lakes’ first release via their new labels —Fat Cat Records in the US, Flemish Eye in Canada - and is the group’s 6th album. For its creation, The Besnard Lakes dispensed with a timeline and instead took all the time they needed to conceive, compose, record and mix the album. Some of its songs are old, resurrected from demos cast aside years ago. Others were literally woodshedded in the cabin behind Lasek and Goreas's "Rigaud Ranch" - invented and reinvented, relishing this rougher sound. Some of that distortion makes its way into the final mix: an incandescent crackle that had receded from the Besnards' more recent output.
Contemplating the darkness of dying and the light on the other side, The Besnard Lakes Are The Last of the Great Thunderstorm Warnings is a double LP. "Near Death" is the title of the first side. "Death," "After Death," and "Life" follow next. It's a journey into (and back from) the brink: the story of the Besnard Lakes' own odyssey but also a remembrance of others', especially the death of Lasek's father in 2019. Being on your deathbed is perhaps the most psychedelic trip you can go on: in Lasek's father's case, he surfaced from a morphine dream to talk about "a window" on his blanket, with "a carpenter inside, making intricate objects." That experience pervades the album.
In late 2020, as the world burns, there might be nothing less trendy than an hour-long psych-rock epic by a band of Canadian grandmasters. Then again, there might be nothing we need more.
Pre-order The Besnard Lakes Are The Last of the Great Thunderstorm Warnings here (Canadian fans can mailorder the LP via Flemish Eye here).
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