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July 17, 2007

New Besnard Lakes Video - "For Agent 13"

Shortlisted for the Polaris Music Prize, the Besnard Lakes are enjoying a well deserved breakout year, and watching this vid will help the unconverted understand why they're on our shortlist for Act '07 (see also: Deerhunter, Battles, Of Montreal). "For Agent 13" has the band getting slowcore 'n' Spiritualized, climbing emotional soundscapes, and the clip's cinematographic treatment has a man shouldering a house of painful memories to an apex, burying his past at the track's climax -- just when a flashback recalls a whitewashed memory to show why the climbing's been such a struggle. Pull up a Kleenex and enjoy. Absolute love it. Jace and Olga are adorable.

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9 Comments

When the PMP was first mentioned on here I commented on how "For Agent 13" was one of my favorite tracks of '07. I hope that people now know why.

Posted by: Ty at 07/17/07 4:05 PM | Reply
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everytime i see the words 'Besnard Lakes', i keep thinking it sez 'barenaked ladies' and i start running for the hills. this time, i took a 2nd look before doing so

go see transformers
or eat a dick!

Posted by: thigh master at 07/17/07 4:52 PM | Reply
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Saw them @ Mercury Lounge on Friday. The were fantastic. Met Jace and Olga and the band @ Citysol on Sat. and we discussed Polaris and the awesome bands that are up for the prize. Great band. Great bunch of Canadians.

Posted by: Christopher at 07/17/07 5:10 PM | Reply
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I think they sound like Low. A lot.

Posted by: Jesse at 07/17/07 10:34 PM | Reply
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So, what... she died? Overrated video, nice song though. Weren't these guys named Sigur Ros before?

Posted by: Alex at 07/17/07 10:58 PM | Reply
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That video was boring and cheesy. I didn't feel for any of the characters at all. The old man carying the house on his back - what a profound metaphor. BAD!!! On the other hand, the song is very good.

Posted by: Kit S at 07/18/07 1:10 AM | Reply
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If you like this song/video and shoegazer space rock is your thing, check out the band Helen Stellar and their video for This Time Around ...

Posted by: Rod at 07/20/07 1:09 AM | Reply
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This band is awesome and their record totally kicks ass, but this video is straight wack. Why would they make a video for the slowest song off an album full of bad ass rock songs?

Posted by: Robert August at 07/22/07 12:41 PM | Reply
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Just speculating, but this song was on the Elizabethtown soundtrack (Cameron Crowe) and perhaps they wanted to generate some momentum from that exposure. They also had a bunch of songs on the TV show "Friday Night Lights".

Glad you like the band .. you should catch them live if you get a chance. I've seen them in Chicago, Milwaukee, Los Angeles and New York and they've never disappointed. Also, not sure which album you've heard, but there's a couple and if you liked one you'll like them all.

Posted by: Rod at 07/24/07 1:31 PM | Reply
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