Along with Wintersleep and Rah Rah, the Besnard Lakes performed at Cabaret Mile-End on Saturday night as part of a rocking Halloween concert.  

The Montreal-based indie band, which is composed of husband-and-wife team Jace Lasek and Olga Goreas, drummer Kevin Laing and guitarist Richard White, entranced the audience with songs from their 2010 Polaris Music Prize-nominated album Are the Roaring Night.   

Although the performance was hardly dance worthy, it was entertainment in itself to listen to the sounds of frontman Lasek. Goreas, both back-up vocalist and bassist, lent her voice to powerful harmonies, but it was Lasek’s incredible range and enthralling falsetto that carried the evening. It’s refreshing when singers can actually sing.

Named after Saskatchewan’s Besnard Lake, the band mixes ‘70s prog rock, the Bee Gees, and post-rock with an indie twist. The result is a sound that pays tribute to many aspects of rock ‘n’ roll history, something that jived well with the eerie Halloween vibe of the night.  

They played a fairly long set—almost an hour—but with a varied repertoire of music, just sitting and listening to the band was a treat. And it’s safe to say, based on the room full of synchronized head bobbers, that the rest of the audience agreed.