GREAT LAKE SWIMMERS
''A FOREST OF ARMS''
APRIL 21 2015
43:43
1 Something Like A Storm 03:12
2 Zero In The City (Tony Dekker, Bret Higgins) 03:01
3 Shaking All Over 03:46
4 Don't Leave Me Hanging 03:10
5 One More Charge At The Red Cape 03:06
6 I Was A Wayward Pastel Bay (Tony Dekker, Bret Higgins) 03:10
7 A Bird Flew Inside The House (Tony Dekker, Bret Higgins) 02:44
8 A Jukebox In A Desert Of Snow 03:36
9 I Must Have Someone Else's Blues (Tony Dekker, Bret Higgins) 03:08
10 The Great Bear 04:13
11 With Every Departure 03:10
12 Expecting You 03:51
13 Talking In Your Sleep (Bonus Track) 03:30
Tracks By Tony Dekker, Except As Indicated
Tony Dekker/Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Electric), Mandolin, Ukulele, Vocals
John Dinsmore/Mandolin, Vocals (Background), Whistle
Michael Eckert/Pedal Steel
Erik Arnesen/Banjo, Guitar (Electric), Guitar Effects
Aleksandar Gajic/Violin
Great Lake Swimmers Primary Artist, Producer
Emily Hau/Violin
Bret Higgins/Bass (Electric), Bass (Upright), Claves, Mandolin, Marxophone, Organ (Hammond), Piano, String Arrangements, Wurlitzer Piano
Joshua Van Tassell/Drums, Effects, Percussion
Drew Jurecka/Viola, Violin
Kevin Kane/Guitar (Electric), Vocals (Background)
Lydia Michinsky/Cello
Karen Moffatt/Viola
Miranda Mulholland/Violin, Vocals (Background)
Justin Shane Nace/Guitar (Rhythm), Mellotron
REVIEW/AMG
by Mark Deming
***1/2 Of *****
While he writes lovely melodies and has a fine voice, Tony Dekker of the Great Lake Swimmers often sounds dour enough that one could imagine he'd like to hide in a cave for a while. And for the group's sixth studio album, 2015's A Forest of Arms, Dekker did just that; his vocals and acoustic guitars were recorded in Ontario's Tyendinaga Caverns and Caves, one of the oldest natural caverns in Canada, while the rest of the instruments were tracked in a variety of studios, performance venues, and resonant rooms in unlikely locales. While it's difficult to say how much impact Tyendinaga made on the final product, it certainly testifies to the group's willingness to experiment. And in a band where mood plays a major role, doing your vocals in a cave probably does make a difference, and the cool but emotionally taut tone of A Forest of Arms' 12 tunes is genuinely powerful, as the wheatfield textures of Dekker's voice blend with the faraway cry of Miranda Mulholland's violin and the well-worn bark of Erik Arnesen's banjo and electric guitar. A Forest of Arms evokes the feeling of a Sunday afternoon in a rural community as the cool, decisive snap of autumn is in the air, at once beautiful and laced with sad inevitability, and though the Great Lake Swimmers don't clear out much new stylistic or thematic ground on this album, it's still a welcome reminder of what they do so well. (And "I Must Have Someone Else's Blues" shows Dekker does have a sense of humor.) From the lonesome drift of the melodies and the brilliantly rendered dynamics of the performances to the uncluttered detail of the production (by engineer Justin Shane Nace in collaboration with the group), this is a splendid mood piece that excels in concept and execution.
BIOGRAPHY/AMG
by David Serra
Featuring a blend of acoustic instruments, rural soundscapes, and wistful vocals, Great Lake Swimmers are an indie folk group led by songwriter/vocalist Tony Dekker. The group first appeared in 2003 with a haunting self-titled debut that was recorded in a grain silo and released by Weewerk Records, a small label based in the band's native Toronto. Misra Records picked up the record and released it stateside in April 2005. Recording sessions for Great Lake Swimmers' second album began that same year, with the band taking up residence in an old church in rural southern Ontario. The finished product, Bodies and Minds, was released toward the end of 2006, featuring another blend of homespun folk and lush, intimate Americana.
Although already popular in Canada, the band began building a wider audience in 2007 by signing to a new label, Nettwerk, and releasing the well-received Ongiara. The album's first track, "Your Rocky Spine," topped the Canadian indie charts and appeared on the soundtrack to Showtime's Weeds. Such increased attention kept Great Lake Swimmers on tour for the better part of two years, but they still managed to take some time off to record a fourth album. Traveling between multiple locations in the Thousand Islands region and elsewhere in northern New York state, the group hit a creative high peak with Lost Channels, which was released in 2009. The Legion Sessions, an EP featuring live versions of several Lost Channels tunes, also appeared that year. In 2012 Great Lake Swimmers released New Wild Everywhere, their first album to be recorded in a traditional studio. For 2015's A Forest of Arms, the group recorded in studios, small music venues, and a variety of unconventional spaces, including Tyendinaga Cavern and Caves, the oldest natural cavern in Ontario.
WEBSITE
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''A FOREST OF ARMS''
APRIL 21 2015
43:43
1 Something Like A Storm 03:12
2 Zero In The City (Tony Dekker, Bret Higgins) 03:01
3 Shaking All Over 03:46
4 Don't Leave Me Hanging 03:10
5 One More Charge At The Red Cape 03:06
6 I Was A Wayward Pastel Bay (Tony Dekker, Bret Higgins) 03:10
7 A Bird Flew Inside The House (Tony Dekker, Bret Higgins) 02:44
8 A Jukebox In A Desert Of Snow 03:36
9 I Must Have Someone Else's Blues (Tony Dekker, Bret Higgins) 03:08
10 The Great Bear 04:13
11 With Every Departure 03:10
12 Expecting You 03:51
13 Talking In Your Sleep (Bonus Track) 03:30
Tracks By Tony Dekker, Except As Indicated
Tony Dekker/Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Electric), Mandolin, Ukulele, Vocals
John Dinsmore/Mandolin, Vocals (Background), Whistle
Michael Eckert/Pedal Steel
Erik Arnesen/Banjo, Guitar (Electric), Guitar Effects
Aleksandar Gajic/Violin
Great Lake Swimmers Primary Artist, Producer
Emily Hau/Violin
Bret Higgins/Bass (Electric), Bass (Upright), Claves, Mandolin, Marxophone, Organ (Hammond), Piano, String Arrangements, Wurlitzer Piano
Joshua Van Tassell/Drums, Effects, Percussion
Drew Jurecka/Viola, Violin
Kevin Kane/Guitar (Electric), Vocals (Background)
Lydia Michinsky/Cello
Karen Moffatt/Viola
Miranda Mulholland/Violin, Vocals (Background)
Justin Shane Nace/Guitar (Rhythm), Mellotron
REVIEW/AMG
by Mark Deming
***1/2 Of *****
While he writes lovely melodies and has a fine voice, Tony Dekker of the Great Lake Swimmers often sounds dour enough that one could imagine he'd like to hide in a cave for a while. And for the group's sixth studio album, 2015's A Forest of Arms, Dekker did just that; his vocals and acoustic guitars were recorded in Ontario's Tyendinaga Caverns and Caves, one of the oldest natural caverns in Canada, while the rest of the instruments were tracked in a variety of studios, performance venues, and resonant rooms in unlikely locales. While it's difficult to say how much impact Tyendinaga made on the final product, it certainly testifies to the group's willingness to experiment. And in a band where mood plays a major role, doing your vocals in a cave probably does make a difference, and the cool but emotionally taut tone of A Forest of Arms' 12 tunes is genuinely powerful, as the wheatfield textures of Dekker's voice blend with the faraway cry of Miranda Mulholland's violin and the well-worn bark of Erik Arnesen's banjo and electric guitar. A Forest of Arms evokes the feeling of a Sunday afternoon in a rural community as the cool, decisive snap of autumn is in the air, at once beautiful and laced with sad inevitability, and though the Great Lake Swimmers don't clear out much new stylistic or thematic ground on this album, it's still a welcome reminder of what they do so well. (And "I Must Have Someone Else's Blues" shows Dekker does have a sense of humor.) From the lonesome drift of the melodies and the brilliantly rendered dynamics of the performances to the uncluttered detail of the production (by engineer Justin Shane Nace in collaboration with the group), this is a splendid mood piece that excels in concept and execution.
BIOGRAPHY/AMG
by David Serra
Featuring a blend of acoustic instruments, rural soundscapes, and wistful vocals, Great Lake Swimmers are an indie folk group led by songwriter/vocalist Tony Dekker. The group first appeared in 2003 with a haunting self-titled debut that was recorded in a grain silo and released by Weewerk Records, a small label based in the band's native Toronto. Misra Records picked up the record and released it stateside in April 2005. Recording sessions for Great Lake Swimmers' second album began that same year, with the band taking up residence in an old church in rural southern Ontario. The finished product, Bodies and Minds, was released toward the end of 2006, featuring another blend of homespun folk and lush, intimate Americana.
Although already popular in Canada, the band began building a wider audience in 2007 by signing to a new label, Nettwerk, and releasing the well-received Ongiara. The album's first track, "Your Rocky Spine," topped the Canadian indie charts and appeared on the soundtrack to Showtime's Weeds. Such increased attention kept Great Lake Swimmers on tour for the better part of two years, but they still managed to take some time off to record a fourth album. Traveling between multiple locations in the Thousand Islands region and elsewhere in northern New York state, the group hit a creative high peak with Lost Channels, which was released in 2009. The Legion Sessions, an EP featuring live versions of several Lost Channels tunes, also appeared that year. In 2012 Great Lake Swimmers released New Wild Everywhere, their first album to be recorded in a traditional studio. For 2015's A Forest of Arms, the group recorded in studios, small music venues, and a variety of unconventional spaces, including Tyendinaga Cavern and Caves, the oldest natural cavern in Ontario.
WEBSITE
TO THE TOP