Somewhere in the two thousand-mile-journey between the capital of
Saskatchewan and downtown Montreal exists a new body of music. It's where the two musical minds of longtime friends (and Besnard Lakes co-founders) Jace Lasek and Michael Gardiner met to explore and draw the new borders that make up the 45 atmospheric minutes of their debut album, "The Soft Province".
Friends since the age of twelve, Jace and Mike have played music together since the age of sixteen. The last time they collaborated musically was in 2001 in the first incarnation of The Besnard Lakes.
The Soft Province's debut self-titled album was recorded partially by Jace
at Breakglass Studios in Montreal, and partially by Mike over a period of
two years in Regina, Canada. In August of 2008, Mike flew to Montreal armed only with a 12-string Fender Coronado and over thirty different recordings of song ideas and loose structures. Jace helped to organize, edit and arrange the album, adding extra instrumentation and finally, vocals. In November 2008, they mixed the album at Breakglass. The final product digs into the duo's love of layering sounds and instruments, and using the studio as a way to achieve it.
Drawing on Mike and Jace's love of the pop song and long repetitive
drones, the album spans the distance between the concise pop song structure of Francoise Hardy and the psychedelic organ drones of Broadcast.
Guests include Jace's wife and Besnard Lakes …
Somewhere in the two thousand-mile-journey between the capital of
Saskatchewan and downtown Montreal exists a new body of music. It's where the two musical minds of longtime friends (and Besnard Lakes co-founders) Jace Lasek and Michael Gardiner met to explore and draw the new borders that make up the 45 atmospheric minutes of their debut album, "The Soft Province".
Friends since the age of twelve, Jace and Mike have played music together since the age of sixteen. The last time they collaborated musically was in 2001 in the first incarnation of The Besnard Lakes.
The Soft Province's debut self-titled album was recorded partially by Jace
at Breakglass Studios in Montreal, and partially by Mike over a period of
two years in Regina, Canada. In August of 2008, Mike flew to Montreal armed only with a 12-string Fender Coronado and over thirty different recordings of song ideas and loose structures. Jace helped to organize, edit and arrange the album, adding extra instrumentation and finally, vocals. In November 2008, they mixed the album at Breakglass. The final product digs into the duo's love of layering sounds and instruments, and using the studio as a way to achieve it.
Drawing on Mike and Jace's love of the pop song and long repetitive
drones, the album spans the distance between the concise pop song structure of Francoise Hardy and the psychedelic organ drones of Broadcast.
Guests include Jace's wife and Besnard Lakes band mate, Olga Goreas, Max Henry (of Zeroes, Young Galaxy) and Jonathan Cummins' 1965 Fender Jazzmaster.
Jace Lasek currently plays in The Besnard Lakes and runs Breakglass
Studios in Montreal where he records and produces many Canadian artists.
Michael Gardiner is a visual artist, musician and recording engineer
living in Western Canada.
