Besnard Lakes, The - The Besnard Lakes Are The Dark Horse

Rich with Beach Boys style harmonies, Roy Orbison reverbs and orchestra, Pink Floyd's pacing and Freddie Mercury's falsetto, the second record by Montreal's Besnard Lakes is a luxurious foray into sound and music. They're masters of finely-honed experimental pop songs that invoke the eerie Lynchian setting as aided and abetted by the music of Julee Cruise, but on this record, the band throws into the mix a mad dash of Fleetwood Mac proportioned swagger and ambition.

Disaster
For Agent 13
And You Lied to Me
Devastation
Because Tonight
Rides the Rails
On Bedford and Grand
Cedric's War