2007, Jagjaguwar

“Disaster,” the opening track on Are the Dark Horse, by The Besnard Lakes, sounds like it was lifted whole and intact from the cutting room floor of the Pet Sounds sessions. It’s goddamn breathtaking.

The rest of the album conjures up a melancholic, sweetly-melodic fog that will have you yearning for summer and beach bonfires in the depths of a Canadian winter. For times like those, throw on Are the Dark Horse, and hold on tightly to what makes you happy.

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