Quick Before it Melts

Tuesday 28 April 2009

Unison falling into harmony

I haven’t read many reviews of Lost Channels, the new album from Great Lake Swimmers, but of the ones I did peruse, all seem to come to the same conclusion:  it sounds the same as their other albums, which isn’t a bad thing, but it doesn’t offer anything new.  I think that Lost Channels does in fact offer something new to fans of Great Lake Swimmers, without sacrificing their soul.

And therein lies the key to what makes this new album appealing: soul.  Having recorded his first album in an abandoned grain silo, and numbers two and three in a church and hall respectively, Dekker opted to move in and out of various locations around the Thousand Islands.  Tony Dekker has always been a talented songwriter and lyricist, and the stark, atmospheric production of GLS’s previous albums set the tone beautifully; on Lost Channels, though, the sound is much warmer–as if these songs were recorded in a studio proper–giving it a more intimate and immediate vibe.

I always likened Great Lake Swimmers as being a series of long lost field recordings that someone stumbled upon by accident.  On Lost Channels, Dekker is writing and playing with purpose.  The sentiments of tracks like “Concrete Heart” directly touch the listener’s emotional core, and that’s exactly what he’s intended.  “She Comes To Me In Dreams” and the instant classic “Pulling On A Line” are far more pop than anything GLS has done before, and that’s a refreshing change as well.  As great as their previous three albums were, there are moments throughout where one song becomes indistinguishable from the next (or worse, from album to album).  Once you hear the songs on Lost Channels, you’ll never mistake them for being from any other Great Lake Swimmers’ album.

Dekker sat down for an interview with Baeble Music last week to talk about the making of Lost Channels and life on the road, which you can see by going here.  The band is on tour throughout Europe starting this week, and will return to Canada in time to play an open air concert at the foot of Niagara Falls on June 13 as part of the 100th Anniversary of the Boundary Waters Treaty Festival (and you can bet your bottom dollar that I’ll be there!)

MP3: Great Lake Swimmers “Pulling On A Line”
Facebook: Great Lake Swimmers
Myspace: Great Lake Swimmers
Twitter: Great Lake Swimmers
Buy: Great Lake Swimmers Lost Channels

by J. Di Gioia | 3 Comments »

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 28th, 2009 at 8:00 am and is filed under MP3. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.