Posted on: November 2, 2007 Posted by: James McQuiston Comments: 0

In support of their critically acclaimed avant-pop masterpiece “The Besnard Lakes Are the Dark Horse” CD/LP, THE BESNARD LAKES will be spending late 2007 on tour with Sweden’s PETER BJORN AND JOHN. It has been a magical year for The Besnard Lakes. They have toured both North America and Europe twice over, playing the most intimate rooms as well as on large festival stages where they’ve opened up for the likes of Smashing Pumpkins. They have been nominated for prestigious prizes, such as for the POLARIS PRIZE, recognizing the best Canadian album of the year, and the ECHO SONGWRITING PRIZE for their song “Devastation”. And their album has been an underground success story, being deemed by Pitchfork as one of the excellent overlooked records this year and having garnered great praise from prominent print media outlets such as Mojo (4 star review; see below.) Likely to make it on many year-end “best of 2007” lists, the Besnard Lakes make one last splash with a few weeks on the road with PETER BJORN AND JOHN.

Also recently available from the Besnard Lakes is the “Casino Nanaimo” 12-inch and a re-introduction of their debut album “Volume I”.

All dates with Peter Bjorn and John:

11/23/2007 Houston, TX – Warehouse
11/24/2007 Dallas, TX – Palladium
11/25/2007 Oklahoma City, OK – Cain’s
11/26/2007 Kansas City, MO – Madrid
11/27/2007 Indianapolis, IN – Vogue
11/29/2007 Cleveland, OH – Beachland Ballroom
11/30/2007 Louisville, KY – Headliners
12/1/2007 Detroit, MI – Majestic
12/2/2007 Cincinnati, OH – Bogart’s
12/3/2007 Pittsburgh, PA – Mr. Smalls
12/5/2007 New York, NY – Bowery Ballroom*

*w/o Peter Bjorn and John

Critical Praise for “The Besnard Lakes Are the Dark Horse”:

“Incorporeal warmth… a sensation of other-worldy oddness…like specs of dust caught in a beam of projector light.” – MOJO, giving 4 stars to The Besnard Lakes Are The Dark Horse

“It’s like a Beach Boys album when it’s calm and a Queen album when it’s crunchy, but all filtered through what must be one hell of a record collection…” – ALL MUSIC GUIDE

They’ve “retrofitted classic-rock grandeur to indie rock dimensions and forged their own special niche-space rock that’s down to Earth.” – PITCHFORK MEDIA

“Sounding like Roy Orbison scoring a David Lynch movie, with spooky horse imagery to boot, Montreal’s The Besnard Lakes are on a mission to take you to the dark side of rock’n’roll.” – DAZE & CONFUSED
The Besnard Lakes’ “overarching fingernail-meets-chalkboard eeriness… is what prevents a lapse into the preciousness that sometimes accompanies indie rock, making [their] album a rousing success.” – UNDER THE RADAR

“Are the Dark Horse has confirmed the Besnard Lakes as one of the year’s big winners.” – GEORGIA STRAIGHT

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