It was 2016 when we last heard a new album from Montreal legends The Besnard Lakes, but they’re coming back in the new year with their most ambitious release yet. …Are the Last of the Great Thunderstorm Warnings is their new 72-minute double album, which will arrive on January 29 via Full Time Hobby. The first song shared from the record is “Raindrops”, the band saying:
“This song and video details a psychedelic flight through the mind while deep in an altered state. The song lyrically references the death of Mark Hollis from Talk Talk (“Garden of Eden spirited”) and also describes the idea of evolution determining the story of the Garden of Eden.”
It takes precisely 0 seconds for “Raindrops” to reintroduce The Besnard Lakes’ trademark undulating space rock sound, with this stately number coming pouring out of the speakers with magical grace. Jace Lasek and Olga Goreas’ vocals follow suit, alternating with each other in gentle eddies of sound. Overall, the glistening and magisterial sound of “Raindrops” is something of which Mark Hollis would undoubtedly approve.
The themes of “Raindrops” are furthered in the video, which you can watch below.
Keen-eared among you might realise the sudden ending – well this is just the radio version. The album is 72 minutes long, but only nine tracks, meaning an average of eight minutes per song… make of that what you will.
The Besnard Lakes Are the Last of the Great Thunderstorm Warnings arrives on January 29 via Full Time Hobby. You can pre-order it from their Bandcamp and follow them on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
