Written by DCist contributor Valerie Paschall

Fitting the Montreal six-piece The Besnard Lakes into the small Backstage at the Black Cat seemed like a stretch. Containing the dense sound of three guitars and keyboards in the small room without destroying onlookers’ eardrums looked like it would take a small feat of science. Yet, the true feat was that even in that small room for no more than 75 people, The Besnard Lakes effectively conveyed their grandiose sound while maintaining a sense of intimacy with the crowd.

Originally it appeared that a large chunk of the audience was actually there to see Dirty On Purpose, whose drummer, Doug Marvin, grew up in Northern Virginia. The front of the audience looked like it consisted entirely of friends of the band, chatting with and shouting requests at the New York quartet between songs. This became even more obvious when the band asked that chunk of the audience who clearly hadn’t come specifically to see The Besnard Lakes to stick around.

This rarely bodes well for a headliner, but it was a good pairing. The Besnard Lakes incorporate some of the same elements as Dirty on Purpose in their sound, specifically shoegaze guitar and falsetto vocals, then adding ambience and psych-pop sounds more like their fellow countrymen in Stars and The Dears — both of whom have albums produced by Besnard Lakes guitarist and singer, Jace Lasek. Lasek and his wife, bassist and singer Olga Goreas, formed the band in 2001 and released their second album, The Besnard Lakes Are The Dark Horse, earlier this year.