Quantcast

Call for Music Critics and Music Bloggers

Music
cover art

The Besnard Lakes

You Lived in the City

(Jagjaguwar; US: 20 Sep 2011; UK: import)

You Lived in the City mostly comprises music the Besnard Lakes composed for Welcome to Pine Point, a multimedia documentary about a Canadian mining town. The band proved long ago a knack for cinematic size, and these songs are further evidence of its sonic heft. The textures, though, are a good deal more fragile than we’re used to. This take on Trooper’s “We’re Here for a Good Time (Not a Long Time)” is a smoldering, atmospheric number. It rides on airy keyboards for a long time before a squall of guitars comes out in its climax. As these tracks move on, however—from the similarly airy “Holiday Sin” to the tense but still spacey “Some Colour the Sky”—the atmosphere doesn’t quite hold up on its own. These are sweet sounds, but you might find yourself wanting to see the images that go along with them to fill the gaps. “The Corner”, written but never used for a film called Memories Corner, is the best tune here. It shows the band’s muscled approach to space better than the others. It roils and storms, making its huge and controlled mess, which unfortunately shows what the other tracks often lack.

Rating:

Media
Related Articles
1 Jun 2010
The opening night of the Downtown Sound Series proved what was already assumed from the lineup, this will hands down be the best way to spend your Monday evening in Chicago for the next couple of months.
29 Mar 2010
Front to back, this album shines, first with a heavy coat of ice, and then with slick, rising heat.
18 Apr 2007
The second album from Montreal post-rock group the Besnard Lakes dazzles with inventiveness and grandeur.
Comments
Now on PopMatters
Call for Music Critics and Music Bloggers (Announcements) [Tue, 3:00 pm]
Bone and Bell Release Second EP (Mixed Media) [Tue, 10:00 am]
Cannes 2012: Day 9 - 'Student' + 'In the Fog' (Notes from the Road) [Tue, 9:00 am]
The 10 Greatest Aspects of the 'Star Wars' Franchise (Short Ends and Leader) [Tue, 8:00 am]
Devil May Cry: HD Collection (Reviews) [Tue, 6:45 am]
The Walkmen: Heaven (Reviews) [Tue, 2:00 am]
  1. The Top 10 Overplayed Songs You Hate by Artists You Love (Sound Affects)
  2. Tea with 'Sherlock': Investigating the Investigators (Features)
  3. Sunk? This 'Battleship' Stunk! (Short Ends and Leader)
  4. Tenacious D: Rize of the Fenix (Reviews)
  5. Top Ten Lost Midwest Punk Singles (Sound Affects)
  6. Like 'Doom', In Heels (Moving Pixels)
  7. 10 Pieces of Cinematic Art That Require Revisiting (Short Ends and Leader)
  8. She's a Rainbow: A Tribute to Donna Summer (Features)
  9. Punk Rock's Pet Sounds: An Interview with Bomb the Music Industry! (Features)
  10. Counterbalance No. 82: U2's 'Achtung Baby' (Sound Affects)
  11. 'Albatross': A Not-So-Weighty Coming-of-Age Meets Mid-Life-Crisis Film (Reviews)
  12. Counterbalance No. 83: The Stooges' 'Fun House' (Sound Affects)
  13. We Will Avenge Them Or… Be Avenged?: The Individual in the US Experience (Features)
  14. The 10 Greatest Aspects of the 'Star Wars' Franchise (Short Ends and Leader)
  15. The Queen and Her Crayons: An Interview With Donna Summer (Features)
  16. Early Summer 2012 New Music Playlist (Mixed Media)
  17. Killer Mike: R.A.P. Music (Reviews)
  18. The Best Canadian Records of the Year? The Fun Agony of Voting for the Polaris Prize Long List (Sound Affects)
  19. Sherlock Holmes, Dirk Gently and the Case of the Eccentric Detective (Columns)
  20. Flash Points: Mommy's Breast, Marriage Equality and Why Chipotle Is King (Features)
  21. Sergio Leone: Something to Do with Death (Columns)
  22. In Support of Supports (Moving Pixels)
  23. Flash Points: Chicks, Sluts and Facebook (Features)
  24. In Defense Of... Rock Radio: A Force in Popular Culture (Columns)
  25. Saint Etienne: Words and Music (Reviews)
  26. The Cult: Choice of Weapon (Reviews)
  27. Garbage: Not Your Kind of People (Reviews)
  28. Willie Nelson: Heroes (Reviews)
  29. 'People's Pornography': The Mundanities of Pornography and Surveillance Culture (Reviews)
  30. Feeling '80s Spirit: Post-Hardcore Punk for the Plastic Generation (Columns)
PM Picks
Music Archive
Announcements

© 1999-2012 PopMatters.com. All rights reserved.
PopMatters.com™ and PopMatters™ are trademarks
of PopMatters Media, Inc.

PopMatters is wholly independently owned and operated.
PopMatters is a member of BUZZMEDIA Music, MOG and Guardian Select.