For the last dozen or so years, Montreal’s Besnard Lakes have been making epic, progressive shoegaze pop that shines with the magnificence of Brian Wilson, Gabriel-era Genesis and Ride collaborating on the soundtrack for a documentary on the Aurora Borealis. So it is once again on A Coliseum Complex Museum, an expansive psychedelic monolith delivered in a concise 38 minutes, brimming with gems like the album’s first single, the stomping, towering “Golden Lion.” Elsewhere, “Tungsten 4: The Refugee” features warbly new-wave synths and dueling guitars, and “Towers Sent Her To Sheets Of Sound” offers a squalling sonic pastiche appropriate to its title.
While there is a certain homogeneity to the Besnard Lakes’ fifth release, Museum is rife with everything that has consistently attracted fans all along. To nitpick about continuity on this record is like bitching about Santa Claus’ gift-giving because he shows up in the same suit every year.
—Brian Baker
