Besnard Lakes

Credit the Besnard Lakes with one of the year's most intriguing album titles: The Besnard Lakes Are the Dark Horse. Ambitious? A tad arrogant, even? Of course — though any band that doesn't have the full force of the indie hype-machine behind it probably likes to think of itself as a dark horse. But the title makes perfect sense after listening to the record a few times. Once you get past the band's astonishing range — everything from '60s harmonies to '70s soft-rock to arena-sized guitar solos and drum smashing — it's the songs that stick in your subconscious. You'll bang your head to the memory of the anthemic "Devastation," and the sometimes sweet, sometimes creepy "Because Tonight" will haunt your dreams.