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Great Lake Swimmers
Ambient / Folk

new album 'lost channels' out now



Toronto, Ontario
Canada

Profile Views:  999533




Last Login:  12/15/2009
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   Great Lake Swimmers: General Info
Member Since3/20/2006
Band Websitegreatlakeswimmers.com
Band MembersTouring band members, Fall 2009: Tony Dekker, Erik Arnesen, Bret Higgins, Miranda Mulholland, Greg Millson. * * * * * * * Touring band members, Spring 2009: Tony Dekker, Erik Arnesen, Julie Fader, Bret Higgins, Greg Millson.
Influences





Sounds Like
Pulling On A Line
Still
I Am Part Of A Large Family



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LOST CHANNELS
IN STORES NOW
ORDER NOW AT:
iTunes l Amazon l Amazon MP3 l Amazon Vinyl



THE LEGION SESSIONS
IN STORES NOW
ORDER NOW AT:
iTunes



LIVE SESSION EP
IN STORES NOW
ORDER NOW AT:
iTunes



ONGIARA
IN STORES NOW
ORDER NOW AT:
iTunes l Amazon



SONG SUNG BLUE EP
IN STORES NOW
ORDER NOW AT:
Zunior



BODIES AND MINDS
IN STORES NOW
ORDER NOW AT:
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GREAT LAKE SWIMMERS
IN STORES NOW
ORDER NOW AT:
iTunes l Amazon


Record LabelNettwerk & (weewerk)
Type of LabelIndie


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   Upcoming Shows ( view all )
Jan 7 2010 8:00P
Yu Gong Yi Shan Beijing
Jan 8 2010 8:00P
Little Bar Chengdu
Jan 9 2010 8:00P
VOX Wuhan
Jan 10 2010 8:00P
Yuyintang Shanghai
Jan 26 2010 8:00P
House Concert Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Jan 27 2010 8:00P
Alix Goolden Hall Victoria, British Columbia
Jan 29 2010 8:00P
The Vogue Theatre Vancouver, British Columbia
Jan 30 2010 8:00P
Cold Snap Festival Prince George, British Columbia
Feb 6 2010 8:00P
Trinity St. Paul’s United Church [SOLD OUT] Toronto, Ontario
Feb 13 2010 8:00P
Whistler Village Stage Vancouver, British Columbia
Feb 18 2010 8:00P
Metropolis Theatre Montreal, Quebec

Great Lake Swimmers's Latest Blog Entry  [Subscribe to this Blog]

Lost Channel Best Of 09 Amie St. Sale  (view more)

Exclusive First Listen To "Song Sung Blue" This Friday  (view more)

Great Lake Swimmers Early Holiday Gift To Fans  (view more)

iTunes Selects Lost Channels In Best Singer/Songwriter Albums Of 2009  (view more)

"Still" On Babysweet TV  (view more)

[View All Blog Entries]

   About Great Lake Swimmers








Great Lake Swimmers Present The Legion Sessions

Download Legion Sessions Videos On iTunes



Download "Pulling On A Line" Music Video On iTunes
For tons of new videos, b-roll, live, behind the scenes, and more, check out the Great Lake Swimmers YouTube Channel

Click here to view the full City Sonic Feature.





Great Lake Swimmers Lost Channels

When Great Lake Swimmers’ Tony Dekker wrote the song “Everything is Moving So Fast,” he couldn’t have predicted that it would foreshadow the rapid success of the Toronto band’s fourth album, LOST CHANNELS. For a project that has seen a slow upward trajectory since its humble beginnings in 2001, the Great Lake Swimmers are suddenly getting exponentially more attention across North America and Europe, entrancing newcomers to the band with Dekker’s unforgettable voice and compelling songwriting.

That LOST CHANNELS was a success in Canada is no surprise: Great Lake Swimmers have long been a word-of-mouth favourite for whom critical mass was inevitable, and they are regarded as a national treasure by the country’s public broadcaster, the CBC; LOST CHANNELS recently topped the chart on CBC Radio 3 (which is also broadcast in the U.S. on Sirius Satellite Radio). It also sat at 1 on iTunes’ Singer/Songwriter chart.

But it’s not just the home team cheering on the Swimmers. LOST CHANNELS attained the 2 Most-Added position at the influential radio trade magazine Friday Morning Quarterback. It debuted at 10 on Billboard’s Heatseekers Chart in its first week, re-entering the Top 10 in May, and was 1 on the Amazon MP3 downloads chart. Meanwhile, an older non-album track, “See You On the Moon,” can be heard on prime time television in a Honda ad. And individual bloggers have been massive champions: Great Lake Swimmers reached “Most Blogged Artist” status on premier MP3 site Hype Machine.

No doubt much of this has been fuelled in part by public endorsements by the likes of Feist, Robert Plant, NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams and cyclist Lance Armstrong. The latter two have both raved about the band on their personal websites; the former have handpicked the Great Lake Swimmers to open shows and whole tours. They’ve also shared bills with Bela Fleck & The Sparrow Quartet, Hayden, Goldfrapp, and Bill Callahan of Smog.

This sudden exposure is new for a band that has always dwelled in shadows, telling tales of hidden histories, singing of "mining for light in the dark wells," of being "tuned to an instrument of greater and unknown design."

The instrument in question is the singular voice of Tony Dekker, a voice that summons ghosts from times past. It’s a voice that is capable of conveying heartache and comfort all in the space of a single phrase. Though his supporting cast has changed over the years—with the exception of longtime right-hand man Erik Arnesen — Dekker has always encircled him self with sympathetic players who value spacious arrangements that frame his vocals. Over time, the band has evolved from a sparse, delicate and hushed unit into a well-rounded folk rock band, sacrificing none of their original intimacy while upping both the volume and tempos when necessary.

Dekker chooses to record in old churches, community halls, abandoned grain silos and rural locations. It's easy to hear why. His voice doesn't need any studio embellishment, standing at its strongest when bathed in natural reverb and enriched by the historical context surrounding it.

To record LOST CHANNELS, Dekker and company went upstream on the St. Lawrence River to the Thousand Islands, halfway between Toronto and Montreal, a historic and picturesque area that straddles the Canadian/American border, and has been designated a World Biosphere Region. Great Lake Swimmers arrived at the invitation of fan and Thousand Islands photographer/regional historian Ian Coristine (www.1000islandsphotoart.com).

Coristine was able to arrange for the band to record in a number of acoustically unique spaces within the region, including one of the area's most storied landmarks, Singer Castle on Dark Island, near Hammond, NY (www.singercastle.com); as well as the historical Brockville Arts Centre (www.brockvilleartscentre.com); and at St. Brendan’s Church in Rockport, ON.

River imagery recurs throughout LOST CHANNELS; the title of the album is a reference to a certain passage of the St. Lawrence, close to the recording locale, where a reconnaissance boat from a British warship went mysteriously missing in 1760. There’s no specific reference to the incident in the lyrics, though there are plenty of night skies, howling winds and raging rivers in almost every song which captures an elusive sense of mystery. As the album closes, Dekker sings the final lyrics—“Like the unstoppable river… Your beauty is gentle/ but forceful, and fast”—before the band ends on a suspended note. There is no resolution there, only eternity, a continuum, an endless river.

LOST CHANNELS also features the talents of Julie Fader (flute/backing vocals), Greg Millson (drums), Darcy Yates (bass), with appearances by Erin Aurich on violin; Mike Olsen on cello; and Paul Aucoin on vibraphone; along with special guests / Swimmers collaborators Serena Ryder with vocals on “Everything Is Moving So Fast” and Bob Egan on pedal steel.





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Great Lake Swimmers's Friends Comments
Displaying 25 of 1690 comments  ( View All | Add Comment )
Bryan G.

Bryan Girard



Dec 14 2009 2:50 PM

Thanks for the add !

Bryan G.
www.bryangirard.com
Kim Brown

Kim Brown



Dec 14 2009 2:49 PM

GREAT tracks Folks !!!
Peace, Kim
Black Warrior RIVERKEEPER

Black Warrior RIVERKEEPER



Dec 10 2009 2:10 PM



Thanks for supporting RIVERKEEPER on MySpace! Black Warrior RIVERKEEPER is a 501(c)3, non-profit organization which has addressed over 15,500 Clean Water Act violations through legal actions since 2002. Here's to cleaner water in Alabama!
our website: www.BlackWarriorRiver.org
PLEASE ADD OUR FUNDRAISING BADGE: **Widget instructions - Please paste our fundraising widget on your profile: 1. Go to our page, find the fundraising badge on the top right. 2. Click "add to profile," then click copy to clipboard. 3. Then you have to paste the code that was just copied to your clipboard back into your myspace site (in the "edit profile" section. Paste the code wherever you want the badge to appear on your profile.
The Four Legged Faithful

The Four Legged Faithful



Dec 6 2009 3:19 PM

hootin' and hollerin'
The DoneFors

The DoneFors



Dec 6 2009 3:40 AM

Are you going to eat the rest of that?
xo The DoneFors
Heatha

Heatha



Dec 6 2009 3:40 AM

happy holidays guys! Miss you!
Miss Erin Murphy

Miss Erin Murphy



Dec 4 2009 11:15 AM

i can't thank you enough. xx
M@RTI@L

M@RTI@L



Dec 2 2009 2:36 PM


Thanks again for the show in Brest folks !

Martial





doyi

doyi cet



Dec 1 2009 8:14 AM

My Dear Great Lake Swimmers,
I want you to know that your music and your songs are my passion. I am addicted to Great Lake Swimmers. There is something that pulls me towards them. Keep it up Great Lake Swimmers.
Do
PS:Follow Me Twitter at http://twitter.com/iaent
a

a



Dec 1 2009 8:11 AM

Thanks !
lovely show in brussels last weekend !
xa.
Marcus Gerard

Marcus Gerard



Nov 28 2009 6:28 AM

See you in Vancouver in the new year !
champion of idiots

champion of idiots



Nov 27 2009 1:43 PM

Just came back from your concert at King Georg. You have the voice of an angel. :) Thanks for the nice evening.
etepetete

etepetete



Nov 27 2009 1:43 PM

thanks a lot for this new perspective...
Kimi

Kimi



Nov 26 2009 8:12 PM

Thank you for being so fantastic.
Bonnie Parker

Bonnie Parker



Nov 25 2009 3:47 PM

I saw your show at Brest... Friday & Saturday! :D And it was... magic and amazinnnng!!! Love you all! Great Lake ANGELS =)  You make us want to go to Canada. I know my "english" is not really good, but I think the meaning of the words is more important than the WORDS! So me & my friend Mathilde wish you all the best. Hope to resee you one day... it was so great! We cannot stop listening to your music... "all day and all of the night". Thank you! :)
Chain of Lakes

Chain of Lakes



Nov 25 2009 3:46 PM

grand rapids loves the great lake swimmers.

come back?
Lonely Vagabond

Lonely Vagabond



Nov 25 2009 3:46 PM

Congrats on Lost Channels being ranked number one in the Year End List in this issue of Exclaim Magazine "With Lost Channels, they hit a dynamic high note without compromising their typically unflinching exploration of the shadowy edges of the human psyche. Partially recorded in remote corners of the Thousand Islands region of Ontario, the album exudes an air of searching and alienation consistent with the Swimmers' earlier work. This time, however, Tony Dekker's serene voice hovers coolly over richer, more varied arrangements than have previously been seen from the brooding folksters"
The Townes Van Zandt Project

The Townes Van Zandt Project



Nov 25 2009 3:46 PM

Photobucket
Babydoo

Babydoo



Nov 22 2009 11:00 PM

I saw you last night at Brest! You were amazing! Thank you for your show!!!!
Teak Rivers & The Handsome Shadows (NEW SINGLE!)

Teak Rivers & The Handsome Shadows (NEW SINGLE!)



Nov 22 2009 2:26 PM

Great tunes. TEAK RIVERS
Guitare Folk Magazine

Guitare Folk Magazine



Nov 22 2009 2:26 PM



Thanks for the add! 

Lancement de GUITARE FOLK : 
le nouveau magazine dédié à la guitare acoustique et au songwriting 


Kristell Bc

Kristell Bc



Nov 21 2009 2:31 PM

Thank you, thank you for yesterday (Paris). I looooove your songs!!
astrid & what else ?:)

astrid & what else ?:)



Nov 21 2009 2:31 PM

You were just amazing in Glazart in Paris... Just lovin' more and more your music after that :)
Hope to see you more and more in Paris now !!!
Much Love
Astrid
Einna

Einna



Nov 21 2009 2:30 PM

Whaouuuu!!!!!!!




Mélanie

Mélanie



Nov 19 2009 6:16 PM

http://www.vimeo.com/7660826
Hello hello Great Lake Swimmers!
Your beautiful music "Your Rocky Spine" on a video made by Caroline Keî (and a little little appearance of me). Enjoy! We are french and we are living in Paris. XXX.
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