GREAT LAKE SWIMMERS : IN PIECES: AN ACOUSTIC RETROSPECTIVE

 

  1. Moving Pictures Silent Films
  2. I Will Never See The Sun
  3. Bodies And Minds
  4. I Saw You In The Wild
  5. Your Rocky Spine
  6. Changing Colours
  7. Pulling On A Line
  8. Still
  9. The Great Exhale
  10. Easy Come Easy Go
  11. Don’t Leave Me Hanging
  12. Zero In The City
  13. The Talking Wind
  14. Alone But Not Alone
  15. When The Storm Passed
  16. Riverine
  17. Somewhere Near Thunder Bay
  18. Talking In Your Sleep
  19. Moonlight, Stay Above
  20. Respect For All Living Things
    Bonus :
  21. I Am Part Of A Large Family

Label : Great Lake Swimmers

Release Date : October 4, 2024

Length : 83:44

Review (Bandcamp) : In Pieces: An Acoustic Retrospective, a collection of scaled-back versions of songs from across our twenty-year, eight-album catalogue. Featuring a blend of acoustic instruments, rural soundscapes, and wistful vocals. Great Lake Swimmers are a critically acclaimed indie- folk group led by songwriter/vocalist Tony Dekker. Based in Toronto. Ontario, the group emerged in the early 2000s with a succession of heavily atmospheric albums recorded in old silos and rural country churches. The music developed in that pastoral warmth, performed and recorded in acoustically unique and historical locales with a revolving cast of personnel. They are renowned for their homespun folk and lush, intimate Americana in their live set. Great Lake Swimmers celebrate their 20th anniversary in 2023 with “Uncertain Country.” an album where doubts are followed by discovery, demos end up as finished tracks, and themes of new beginnings, rear-view reflections, and ruminations on the fluidity of time form the basis of the eleven new songs. It follows a prolonged period of collective anxiety. Recorded in different locales-and with a variety of musicians a theme of questioning runs throughout. Even before the world turned upside down. Dekker felt mired in uncertainty: from the climate erisis to the ever-changing political landscape. The “uncertain country” chosen as the album’s theme is not a specific place, Rather, it’s a territory we, as humans. inhabit in the 21st century a world that, more often than not, is confusing, unfamiliar and unsettling. “Moonlight. Stay Above” epitomizes what Great Lake Swimmers represents. A 10-voice strong women’s choir (Niagara’s Minuscule) lifts the lonely-sounding and wistful song up. As with that addition. the band on each album is fluid and always evolving. Great Lake Swimmers were shortlisted for the prestigious Polaris Music Prize and nominated twice for Canada’s Juno Awards, with the CBC calling them “a national treasure.” Tony Dekker, vocals, guitars, and harmonica. With Michael Boguski, piano (01, 06, 14); Bret Higgins, upright bass (01, 09, 11, 17, 19, 20); Erik Arnesen, banjo (02, 05, 08); Kevin Fox, cello (04, 13); Rachael Cardiello, viola (14); Colleen Brown, vocals (16); Kelsey McNulty, accordion (17, 19) and piano (20); and Minuscule, vocals (19, 20). Engineered and recorded by Joe Lapinski. Produced by Joe Lapinski and Tony Dekker. Vocals and guitars were recorded at Silver Spire United Church in St. Catharines, Ontario (1-14) and St. Mark’s Anglican Church in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario (15-16). Colleen Brown’s vocals (16) were recorded by Erik P.H. Nielsen. Additional remote recording was done by the guest artists. Live sound was engineered by Rob Robbins and Joe Lapinski at Silver Spire United Church for the 2022 In The Soil Arts Festival (17-20). All tracks (1-20) were mixed by Joe Lapinski at WOW! Recording Studio & Creative Music Space.

Note : Bonus Track (21) was also recorded at The Soil Arts Festival, June 10, 2022. This track doesn't occur on the LP and CD.