GREAT LAKE SWIMMERS with COLD SPECKS at the Music Hall (147 Danforth), Saturday (June 2), 7 pm, all ages. $24.50-$29.50. RT, SS, TM. And at Molson Amphitheatre August 18. $20-$79. TM.
Toronto folk rockers Great Lake Swimmers waited till they were a decade into their career before doing something most consider commonplace: record in a studio.
Since debuting in 2003, they’ve sought out unusual places to make records: a grain silo, a church, London’s Aeolian Hall, various locations in the Thousand Islands (including a castle).
But they went the conventional route for their fifth, the lush and poppy New Wild Everywhere (Nettwerk), working with long-time collaborator Andy Magoffin at Toronto’s new Revolution Recording.
Singer/songwriter Tony Dekker says the experiment was Magoffin’s idea. “We’ve been working with him for eight years now, and I wanted to give him more of a producer role. He said that after all this time it would be really awesome to see how we sounded in a proper studio.”
Though happy with how it turned out and appreciative of the ease and focus that came with not having to worry about weather or gear, Dekker says location recordings are still an important facet of the band.
“Right alongside our studio recordings we did three nights in Lower Bay Station,” he says. “We were thinking of recording a companion EP down there, but the song The Great Exhale turned out really well, so we included it on the album.” (Additional songs from those sessions are bonus tracks on the limited-edition version.)
Thematically, New Wild Everywhere picks up where 2009’s Lost Channels left off, exploring the elements of wind, water and fire, nature’s cycles and the tension between the natural and urban worlds.
“Trying to find a certain spirituality in the natural world has been a concern for me since the beginning,” says Dekker. “Sometimes it [comes through] in a songwriting arc and other times it’s kind of like a jigsaw puzzle where a lot of these songs fit together.
“For example, it recently occurred to me that in our live set we’ve been playing a song from the second record called I Saw You In The Wild, and the new record is called New Wild Everywhere, so there’s a little bridge there.”
Another onstage revelation is that the band, which has added two new players, violinist Miranda Mulholland and bassist Bret Higgins, is seeing new faces in the crowds.
“I feel like we’ve really grown into our own skin,” Dekker says. “I finally feel like we’re going to be around for a while.”
Interview Clips
Tony Dekker on why Great Lake Swimmers have a long history of location recordings:
Are there particular parts of New Wild Everywhere where you can hear what Andy Magoffin did as a producer?
Dekker on living in Toronto but being inspired by nature:
Did you think ten years ago that you’d still be doing music now?
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