Since the release of their fourth album Lost Channels, released on Nettwerk Records in 2009, there has been a sizeable shift in the sound and fortunes of Great Lake Swimmers. That release six years ago was actually their fourth album, but the one that really started to establish Great Lake Swimmers as a force to be reckoned with in their native Canada. Listening back, it sounds like a record of subtle intrigue, highly melodic, but veiled and oblique. When compared to A Forest Of Arms, released earlier this year, you realise just how much the band have grown. It’s like everything has snapped into place for the new record. Sure some of the signatures remain the same, most notably Tony Dekker’s voice, but also his dense, poetic lyrics, with their mysterious air and the mostly acoustic instrumentation, but everything has come up a notch, from the songwriting to the playing. Everything is just more focussed and more potent for it.
There’s the sense too that the band’s audience is responding, growing in numbers with more and bigger dates. They’re due in Europe imminently and as I caught up with Great Lake Swimmers singer, Tony Dekker, he agrees, “We’ve been pretty busy, yes. Our spring tour schedule has taken us through much of Canada and the United States, and over the summer we’ve been playing closer to home and doing a bit of the festival circuit. Combined with life, it’s kept us on our toes.”
Reflecting on their progression he admits, “Our band has been a sort of slow burn that has been steadily building, for sure. There are still people that are finding out about us just now, but if the music speaks to them, they tend to stick with us. I think we’ve learned how to become better musicians over time, and that has revealed itself in our live show, I think. I feel that we’ve definitely established ourselves as a band over the last two or three albums.”
In truth, the much crisper sound was already evident on the interim album New Wild Everywhere and they have simply carried on the good work, refining things still further, which in part comes from a settled core of musicians. Again Tony confirms, “There have been a few line-up changes over the years but I feel very strongly about the current configuration. The five-piece that recorded the latest album is the band that’s on tour, and I feel surrounded by some really talented folks, and good, positive energy. Nothing is ever really fixed, but it’s come to a really vital place.”
Tony is happy to expand on the history of the current band and explains, “Well, our banjo player, Erik Arnesen, has been with the project the longest, and we’ve been making music together for almost fifteen years, ever since the first outings where Great Lake Swimmers was transforming from a singer-songwriter thing to more of a band thing. We’ve been on a lot of great adventures together and have gone from babes in the woods to grizzled road veterans. The banjo has been a crucial element since the beginning and in some ways we learned how to play through this music.
“Bret, our upright bass player, and Miranda on violin have taken up those roles since around 2009, on the Lost Channels tour.
“When I stop to think about it, we’re basically a string band in essence. There’s an element of acoustic music that shines through our aesthetic, I think. We still haven’t made a “rock record” and have no plans to. To me there’s a certain challenge in making quiet music that creates a mood and an atmosphere and a space, or a world in which to listen and appreciate that aspect of it. I’ve always thought it was way too easy to plug into an amp and turn it up to eleven. I’d rather embrace that moody, introspective part of folk and pop music than scream out for that kind of attention.”
He concludes, “Our drummer, Josh Van Tassel, completes the line-up and joined the most recently, at the tail end of the New Wild Everywhere tour in 2012. His contributions to the new album are significant. We’ve been able to push things into new and lively directions with him on board, and it’s an important part of the creative process both in the studio and in the live show to have a group that listens to what the song is asking for and then plays toward that.”
Great Lake Swimmers originally formed in Wainfleet, Ontario, about a 100 miles or so from Niagara and the US border, a little inland from the Northern shores of Lake Eerie, but have since moved across Lake Ontario to the bigger metropolis of Toronto. There’s an advantage to being in Canada’s largest city as Tony explains, “There is definitely a strong sense of community within the Toronto music scene, and real camaraderie between musicians. It becomes a bit of a small world or a small town, in a way. I could list off a handful here, of fifty or more bands or people that we’ve crossed paths through the music community, and they are all interesting people doing interesting things and making interesting and soulful music and art. There’s almost too much to start getting into it. So yeah, needless to say, I’ve felt lucky to have such a great wellspring of great music around. We have lots of great pals, for sure.”
We turn our attention towards the record and one of the things that Great Lake Swimmers have made a feature of, recording in unusual locations outside of the usual comforts of the studio. Ironically, given the title, they didn’t really do that for New Wild Everywhere, but is once again a feature of A Forest Of Arms. I suggest it must be a logistical nightmare and Tony agrees, “The main challenges have to do with the unstable work environment. It becomes too easy to get side-tracked and lose hours of time because someone forgot a cable, or worse yet, if a piece of gear stops working on location. There’s a lot of planning involved but also a lot of troubleshooting, and lot of making do with what’s on hand.
“That’s not even addressing the performances or getting the right feel and landing the take. The flipside of that is that it becomes really hard to fake it, which I think is a good thing, but it takes a lot of effort to get a definitive take. It’s impossible to recreate the natural ambiance of a space and the sound of people playing in that space.”
I ask what the appeal is. Tony explains, “Well the first and maybe most obvious thing is simply the natural acoustics of a big, open space. It adds a sonic layer to the recordings, and in some ways, we use the space as another element or member of the band. Also, there is a certain reverence attached to setting up in special place and it makes the creative process more of an event in itself. It reflects back into the writing and the overall feel of the session. I also think that it draws a certain kind of performance out of the musicians and the singing. Personally, it affects me deeply to be able to tap into the energy of a place and sing to that. It really heightens the whole process for me.”
The venue chosen this time was an Ontario cave system and Tony tells me, “I had been looking for a place like Tyendinaga Cavern for quite some time, and stumbled upon it by seeing a sign for it on the way back from a show. It was in the afternoon and they were open so I went and did the cave tour, and eventually made a connection with the owners. It was a real thrill to play music and sing below the earth in an ancient cavern. In terms of playing in a natural setting, it really doesn’t get much more natural than that.”
I ask Tony about the timings of making the record and he informs me, “The recording process from preproduction to mastering took about six or seven months.” I push him a little on the writing process and he continues, “It was a period of a year or two, for the most part, but also a matter of revisiting some incomplete ideas and fragments from years gone by.” That suggests a man who is writing all of the time and he agrees. “It’s an ongoing process, but with periods of more intensity and dedicated, focused writing time leading up to the recording dates. I try to write every day but I find it more difficult to do that on tour, which is a much more social time period for the band. I like to be by myself when I’m working on things, and ideally out in the woods somewhere.”
I ask him if he’s aware of developments in his writing skills and he acknowledges, “Hopefully it’s gotten more concise. But really, being alive is reason enough to write or tell a story, and at this point it feels like branches coming from the same tree.” He develops the thought, “I think there are some through-lines across all of the records, but not by any sort of grand design. To me it’s a matter of trying to get closer to the truth, and possibly bringing the vision to a sharper point. When I think about the kind of perspective that I can offer, it always comes back to approaching a kind of spirituality in the natural world. I feel the rural life in my bones and that I have something to speak about.”
I push Tony about the nature themes and especially the World Wildlife Fund, which was specifically mentioned in the press release for the record. He explains, “The initial spark came from writings that I did on a trip to northern British Columbia in 2013, on the northwest coast of Canada. I was part of an initiative with the World Wildlife Fund to explore a region known as The Great Bear rainforest and sea. I was moved to grapple more directly with ideas of environmentalism and stewardship of the pristine natural ecosystems that exist there and the communities that are trying to defend it from powerful, encroaching industry. Specifically this is addressed in the song The Great Bear, which contains the title of the album, A Forest Of Arms, in its lyrics. That particular song had been germinating for quite some time, and to me it is the centrepiece of the album.”
Again try to push Tony to explain some of the lyrical themes, but to no avail. He deflects my enquiries by telling me, “I like to think of the songs as ideas though, and things can be interpreted in so many different ways. I wouldn’t want to spoil it for anyone,” although concedes, “I confess to the influence of waiting for the arrival of my first child, which is somewhat thinly veiled in some of the songs.” Although my own curiosity remains, I have to agree that my own imaginings are an essential part of the band’s appeal.
When it comes to the music, however, he’s a little more open and also prepared to share the credit, although also admits, “I generally bring finished songs and ideas to the band, and then act as de facto director or producer when it comes to the arrangements.” That said, he also acknowledges, “I think that our bass player Bret Higgins definitely deserves credit for the string quartet arrangements he wrote, and also for his musical contributions to some of the songs that we worked on together. For this record, we hammered out ideas using just the rhythm section and that became the foundation for recording the other instruments later.”
As for the nitty-gritty of recording Tony explains, “Justin Nace has been recording with us and working as our live sound engineer for the last six years or so. He’s actually responsible for most of the location recording on Lost Channels, recorded in 2008. It was a natural evolution to have him step in and oversee the majority of the new album in more of a co-producer capacity, because he’s just gotten to know the band so well. He also worked on a solo album I did a few years ago called Prayer Of The Woods and so it made perfect sense to have him involved.”
He also expands on the way the arrangements come together telling me, “There were definitely some things that were done in the moment. In a lot of cases, we recorded a bunch of different ideas and then stripped them back to what ultimately appears on the record. A lot of it was arranged but there was still a lot of room for improvisation. The recording process tends to be a very organic and constantly evolving process for the band, and that actually stretches beyond the recording sessions and continues with the live show. We’re always mutating the songs in small ways and they continue to grow even after the record is done.”
There was some help from outside of the Great Lake Swimmers camp too and Tony reveals, “We had a few notable guests on this album, including the amazing Kevin Kane, perhaps best known from the band Grapes Of Wrath, on guitar and backing vocals. These things seem to evolve naturally, but I suppose there was more of a focused closed environment this time around.”
They had help with the final mix too and Tony enthuses, “It was an absolute thrill to work with Howie Beck on the final mixes. He took everything that we did, all of the various threads from different sessions, and crystallized them into a unified collection of songs. I really think that his mix choices brought all of the songs up several notches in terms of sonics and feel.”
Finally we turn our attention to the coming European tour and Tony finishes on another enthusiastic note. “It’s been some time since we’ve last toured in the UK and Europe. We’re all very energized by the new songs and are looking forward to sharing them with people, and continuing the conversation that starts when a record is released. We’ve also gotten really tight as a touring band and I expect that things will keep getting interesting the more we play. Hopefully some folks will come along for the ride.”
Interview by: Simon Holland
Read our Album Review of A Forest of Arms here.
Tour dates:
Sep 10 – Brighton (UK) @ The Hope & Ruin *
Sep 11 – London (UK) @ Hoxton Bar & Kitchen *
Sep 12 – Bristol (UK) @ The Lousiana *
Sep 13 – Winchester (UK) @ Railway
Sep 14 – Manchester (UK) @ The Deaf Institute *
Sep 15 – Dublin (EIR) @ Button Factory *
Sep 16 – Leeds (UK) @ The Brudenell Social Club *
Sep 17 – Glasgow (UK) @ Broadcast *
Sep 19 – Leffinge (B) @ Leffingeleuren *
Sep 20 – Tilburg (NL) @ Incubate Theaters *
Sep 21 – Münster (D) @ Museum
Sep 22 – Nijmegen (NL) @ Doornroosje
Sep 23 – Groningen (NL) @ Vera
Sep 24 – Hamburg (D) @ Reeperbahn Festival
Sep 26 – Copenhagen (DK) @ Vega
Sep 27 – Lund (S) @ Mejeriet
Sep 28 – Stockholm (S) @ Nalen
Sep 29 – Oslo (N) @ John Dee
Sep 30 – Gothenburg (S) @ Pustervik
Oct 02 – Berlin (D) – tbc
Oct 03 – Vienna (A) @ Chelsea
Oct 04 – Munich (D) @ Schreinerei
Oct 05 – Zurich (CH) @ Bogen F
Oct 06 – Mulhouse (F) @ Noumatrouff
Oct 07 – Lille (F) @ La Péniche
Oct 08 – Paris (F) @ Pop Up du Label
Oct 10 – Istanbul (TR) @ Salon
* with Meg Baird
A Forest of Arms is Out Now
Order it via Amazon here.