The Besnard Lakes/Yu Su
The Besnard Lakes
The Besnard Lakes are the Last of the Great Thunderstorm Warnings // Flemish Eye Records
It's something to say you've listened to a band for 15 years. Heck it’s a rare thing to be a band for 15 years. The Besnard Lakes have found a way, and they are no worse for wear. In their words, they have passed through death and are ready to tell the tale.
The Besnard Lakes have freed themselves from their label Jagjaguwar. In doing so, have found the latitude to answer only to themselves. The resultant uncompromising work goes by the name of The Besnard Lakes are the last of the Great Thunderstorm Warnings.
The album clocks in over 72 minutes broken into 9 tracks. A true double LP, it's four sides are a diatribe on death and life influenced in part by the passing of Lasek's father in 2019. Aptly named "Near Death", "Death", "After Death", and "Life". The purposeful progression does not rush to completion. And while the mood starts somber, as one flips through the sides, the optimism and brevity shines through. There is patience and re-visitation that brings comfort to the listener.
…The Last of The Great Thunderstorm Warnings definately rewards the persistent listener. After multiple plays, the cohesiveness emerges and the album begins to speak as a whole. The Besnard Lakes should be commended for not only taking on the universal concepts of existentialism but also taking the time to sonically explore them fully. Listen a few dozen times from start to finish for maximum effect. You cannot tell me you do not have the time.
- Drew Cox
[*Note From Editor - Check out our recent “Inside The Artist Studio” interview with Jace Lacek and Olga Goreas of The Besnard Lakes. Also, check out The Besnard Lakes last two, live stream release shows on March 6th and April 3rd.]
Yu Su
Yellow River Blue // bié Records
While there seems to be a conscious dedication to a particular aesthetic on Yellow River Blue, each song has its own distinct landscape. You’re travelling down a river, and each song is a day in pictures, each day its own adventure full of beauty.
According to the bandcamp page, this album was made during the winter of 2019 during a tour of mainland China from Qingdao, the western shore of Yellow Sea Coast to Xining, the largest urban hub on the Tibetan Plateau. That could be why it feels like travelling.
Yellow River Blue is a happy and chill electronic record. It’s nostalgic. It feels peaceful and playful at the same time. Rhythms and melody vamping and jolting in sidewinding motion as effects and pads flourish and whoosh in the air above.
“Xiu” is a great opener and a standout track. It’s a pulsing head bopper and has a fun music video of flying kites, merry go rounds, and bumper cars that captures that overall quality I was trying to elude to. It’s fun, but it’s chill fun. Nothing too crazy and wild, more like self-confident and controlled fun.
After “Xiu” the album gets progressively more dub, glitch, and even borderline ambient sounding. At about the halfway mark we get “Melaleuca” which has a distinct 80s dance pop thing going on, almost like an instrumental Madonna song for a little while before dropping down into the deepest dub track on the record, “Klein”.
Strongly recommend adding this to your listening today. Let it make you tranquil, glad, serene, and let it help you remember travelling.
- Joel Klaverkamp
