Great Lake Swimmers On Deck at The Dennos

Nov. 13, 2015

If you like the music of Iron and Wine, Band of Horses, The Low Anthem or Nick Drake, chances are you’ll like Canadian folk-rockers Great Lake Swimmers, too. You might find that you’re listening to even more than you anticipated; GLS takes all of these stylistically similar sounds and turns them upside down, transporting their genre to a whole new place.

TUNEFUL THREADS

Forged in 2001 around the melodic writings of singersongwriter Tony Dekker, GLS has established some band routines, if you will, that have helped solidify their fan base and make their sound very distinctive.

Thematically, Dekker most often focuses his lyrics on two subjects: personal relationships and his (or our) relationship with the natural world. These threads run throughout all GLS’ albums, including their newest and sixth, A Forest of Arms, recorded under another of the band’s informal guidelines: to record in as many different locations as possible for each album, at least a half-dozen by this album’s count.

"Then we handed everything over to Howie [Beck], who mixed the album, which was co-produced by myself and our live sound engineer, Justin Nace," Dekker said. "He’s been traveling with us for four or five years now and has become really familiar with, not only our sound, but also the dynamics of the band. So, it was a natural extension to have him on board."

OPPOSITES ATTRACT

A Forest of Arms shows GLS’ willingness to push themselves both musically and artistically through more prominent violin and banjo lines, with more daring beats on songs like the brisk "I Must Have Someone Else’s Blues" and "The Great Bear," with its surreal lyric couplings.

That said, there are opposites, too – the songs that step back. And with that contrast, those become even more attractive, like the carefully paced slow gallop of "Zero in the City." Everything’s unified by Dekker’s composed vocals, making this a balancing act that works.

"I think the biggest thing that has changed over the course of six albums is more of an emphasis on musicianship," Dekker said. "And I think the song writing has gotten more concise. You can hear big differences between the first album and the new album."

The band still plays songs from across their range of records and that’s a testament to the strength of their music.

SOUND EXPANSION

Great Lake Swimmers has been touring in Europe for nearly 10 years. As a result, they’ve built a dedicated following in places like Germany, the Netherlands and Scandinavia.

"We’re reaching a lot of places on this current tour, including some new ones," Dekker said.

A recent highlight was returning to Gothenburg, Sweden, to find a packed house awaiting their concert. They’ve also dipped their toes further into the festival circuit and next up are more stateside stops, including one in Traverse City.

They may look like they’ve already covered much of the musical map, but as far as they’re concerned, there are a lot more turns on their road.

"It’s been a great tour so far," Dekker said. "I’m still really excited about the music and there are still so many musical directions left for us to take."

Great Lake Swimmers will be in concert at Milliken Auditorium at the Dennos Museum Center in Traverse City on Saturday, Nov. 21 at 8pm. Tickets are available online at mynorthtickets.com or by calling (800) 836-0717. For more information on the band, visit greatlakeswimmers.com.