The Besnard Lakes

Breakglass Studios, Montreal, Canada

Space rockers go into interstellar overdrive performing their new album.

The debut live performance of brand new material by any band is enough to strike trepidation into the heart of even the most dedicated fan. That’s especially the case with Canadian cosmonauts the Besnard Lakes, a band whose glorious music properly begins to reveal itself only after repeated listens. And with new album, The Besnard Lakes Are The Last of the Great Thunderstorm Warnings, already a week old, the real joy is in seeing how it takes on a whole new life when played live in its entirety.

Here the band get to fulfil their ambition of playing the record as a continuous suite of music as originally intended. Augmented by a horn section, Raindrops lives up to its widescreen promise as gurgling keyboards, EBowed guitars and divine vocal harmonies coalesce to create an ecstatic sense of wonder, while laser beams float gently across the studio, slicing through the plumes of smoke.

Although the music has been inspired by meditations on mortality, the Besnard Lakes are far from maudlin. Witness the tempered yet marvellous glam stomp of Our Heads, Our Hearts On Fire Again and the uplifting nature of New Revolution.

With a performance that is utterly sublime throughout, the Besnard Lakes not only make the return of live concerts even more desirable, they also stake a very convincing claim for being the Pink Floyd of the 21st century.