Marshall McLean & Chris Chabot

Here is a quick blog post with video of two performances by great acoustic artists at a coffee shop here in Bend.

Marshall McLean is from Spokane and has a voice that mirrors the strength of Joshua James almost perfectly and here he is performing a song titled Jericho.



This next video is of Bend artist and dear friend of mine, Chris Chabot. One of the most honest songwriters I know... Chris has no fear when it comes to sharing his past and current life with people through song. As a result you feel comforted during his performances... Here he is singing a song to one of his sons.

The Besnard Lakes Release A Roar

And on their latest album, it’s a roar that lasts over 46 minutes. “The Besnard Lakes Are The Roaring Night”, is a record dripping in Shoegaze sweetness and songs that build anticipation. Montreal couple Jake Lasek and Olga Goreas, like to spread themselves all over the musical landscape and return on their third album to do just that. The first track (really just an intro for the first song) “Like The Ocean, Like The Innocent Pt. 1: The Ocean”, is in itself, a sea of sound, featuring long shaky guitar notes layered with ambient synth noise that lead the listener into the inner sanctuary of the continued movement on “Pt 2: The Innocent” and then the rest of the album. The fourth track, “Albatross” a love song just as flowing as the first track, gets a smile added to the music by The Besnard Lakes introducing some rhythmic drum beats and guitar melodies.

Other reviews of this work compare the vocals to Brian Wilson and Roger Walters, and while definite Beach Boys and Pink Floyd sounds exist, (especially on the climactic psychedelic rock track “Light Up The Night”), there is something else to “Roaring Night”. Something that tugs at the listeners’ heart strings a little more than works by those two bands. It’s a safe album without a lot of boldness, yet it spins around your mind creating mystic dreamscapes and grinds against your afternoon releasing you from your troubles.