The Besnard Lakes
“The Besnard Lakes Are the Roaring Night” (Jagjaguwar)
Unless you’re an avid reader of indie music blogs and magazines, you’ve probably never heard the Besnard Lakes. Which is a shame, because the band’s third and latest album, “The Besnard Lakes Are the Roaring Night,” is one of the most epic, gorgeous guitar albums released in recent years. The Montreal quartet, led by the husband-and-wife duo of Olga Goreas and Jace Lasek, trade in heavy, complex atmospherics and lots of guitar pyrotechnics, bringing to mind “OK Computer”-era Radiohead, ’70s prog rock, and the more orchestral sides of Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin.
The album is a slow, steady build, starting with “Like the Ocean, Like the Innocent,” a two-part suite that begins with near-silence and ends with Goreas and Lasek’s vocal harmonies over psychedelic power riffs. “And This Is What We Call Progress” showcases a dark, Jesus and Mary Chain kind of grooviness, while the sinuously elegant “Albatross” presents a wall of sound My Bloody Valentine fans will appreciate.
The occasional meandering bits of static interspersed throughout drag down the pacing of the album at times, but when the Besnard Lakes pull out all the stops and go for epic, they transcend any minor limitations. It’s heavy, beautiful rock of the first order.
— EMILY BURNHAM
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Boys Like Girls
“Love Drunk” (Columbia)
What does a new group like this have in common with an established musical songwriter-musician such as John Mayer? They both feature Taylor Swift on backing vocals. There’s more to like than that, however, as this sophomore album from the Boston quartet has a few catchy songs and lyrics that stick in the ear after the ignition is turned off and the car door slams shut.
Things start solidly with “Heart Heart Heartbreak” and the title track. Three years after the release of their self-titled debut album, it’s hard to get a read on these guys because on one track they conjure comparisons to Good Charlotte, another The All-American Rejects, and even The Killers and Franz Ferdinand.
That’s not to say lead voice Martin Johnson, drummer John Keefe, bassist Bryan Donahue and lead guitar Paul Digiovanni haven’t found their own sound. It just means they evoke many comparisons from song to song.
Other highlights include a more somber yet up-tempo ode to heartbreak titled “The First One” and “She’s Got a Boyfriend Now.” I wasn’t expecting to, but I like this and the more I gave it a listen, the more I was interested in listening again. If you’re not locked into specific musical genres (classic rock, country, alternative), chances are you will be, too.
— ANDREW NEFF
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Gorillaz
“Plastic Beach” (Virgin)
Ever thought, “You know, the world really needs an album featuring both Snoop Dogg and Lou Reed”? Apparently, former Blur frontman Damon Albarn has, as the legendary rapper and the punk godfather are among a vast array of impressive guests on the new record from Albarn and “Tank Girl” artist Jamie Hewlett’s cartoon collective, Gorillaz.
“Plastic Beach” finds the animated band holed up on a remote island in the Pacific, an island made up of discarded junk, the detritus of a wasteful species that has put the planet on the brink of destruction. A pretty heavy concept for a quartet of anthropomorphic apes, but fortunately the album holds up well even if you ignore its studiously constructed cartoon framework.
Albarn produces for the first time, and he struggles with the more rap-oriented tracks on “Plastic Beach.” Snoop is as smooth as ever on the introductory “Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach,” but songs featuring Mos Def (“Sweepstakes”) and Brit MCs Bashy and Kano (“White Flag”) come up flat.
However, Albarn shines on the more reflective ballads, many of which recall late-period Blur in their gentle melancholy. “Rhinestone Eyes” skirts prime Beck territory, with Albarn sing-speaking trippy nonsense over a catchy electronic pulse, and “Empire Ants” is a total stunner, a mournful acoustic lament that suddenly takes a left turn into a dance-floor-ready electro breakdown featuring an appropriate diva turn from Yukumi Nagano of Swedish group Little Dragon.
“Plastic Beach” proves Albarn is still one of the best songwriters out there, and he’s so confident in his abilities that he doesn’t mind letting a fictional band take credit for his accomplishments.
— TRAVIS GASS
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She & Him
“Volume Two” (Merge)
Zooey Deschanel’s sugary sweet voice blends with lyrical pangs of heartbreak in her and M. Ward’s new album, “Volume Two.” The 13-track album is a smooth transition from the She & Him’s first, “Volume One,” mostly because the sound is nearly unchanged.
Each song has an old-time feel — classic, with a modern, folk-pop twist. The lyrics are bland and somber, but are balanced by bright bursts of mandolin, the pedal steel guitar and synthesizers.
In contrast to “Volume One,” where She & Him searched for its sound by edging into different genres and borrowing sounds from different decades, “Volume Two” is stuck in a cutesy retro-pop formula. The result? A compilation so sunny that it would make the perfect soundtrack to any picnic.
A standout on the album, “Gonna Get Along Without You Now,” is a revitalization of Skeeter Davis’ 1960s pop song. This is what Deschanel is best at: sassy, sweet and sad. The heavy reverb creates a fuller, vinyl sound and the repetitive lyrics and drum line epitomize the sunny California breakup songs that make up “Volume Two.”
— HEATHER STEEVES