There’s something in the air in Montreal, Canada. It’s full of popular bands at the moment. Arcade Fire just rolled through the Bay Area and sold out a 9,000 person venue. Tokyo Police Club was just down at Culture Collide Fest in LA. (We heard that was fun — was it?) And on the same weekend, city mates Land of Talk and Besnard Lakes visited San Francisco’s newly remodeled Independent.

Land of Talk is touring shortly after the release of their second album Cloakes and Cipher, which I’ve said is pretty much a continuation in the journey of Elizabeth Powell (pictured), the lead singer of the now five, six, seven?-piece band. The band’s sound is still straightforward indie rock and no one can deny that indie darling Powell is able to play the shit out of that guitar, but something is missing.

It’s her voice. Among most of the first record and some earlier shows before Cloak and Cipher, Powell’s child-like wail is charming, endearing. The complexities of the music now bury her once-tender melodies. Hey, Liz, now that we know you’ve got chops that make guitar heroes cry, can you bring back that pretty voice I fell in love with on Some Are Lakes?

Besnard Lakes, also hailing from Montreal, are a music lover’s double rainbow. (What does it mean?) As the husband-wife duo of Jace Lasek and Olga Goreas, they’ve been around for a while, most recently putting out an album on Jagjaguwar Records, the home of Bon Iver and S. Carey. Besnard Lakes build one giant wall of sound that’s part psychedelic, 50% angry, and go down like three consecutive shots of whiskey. While it may burn at first, there’s always something relaxing at the end.

Share and Enjoy

•