Going batty
If the Great Lake Swimmers’ music has a tendency to render a cavernous sonic portrait in the mind of the listener, it’s not by accident. After recording their self-titled debut in an abandoned grain silo, the folk group upgraded to an actual Ontario cave system for their sixth, A Forest of Arms. In the Post’s studio to play both new track “Zero in the City” and a cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Hey, That’s No Way to Say Goodbye,” singer/ songwriter Tony Dekker told Jonathan Dekel how he came to be backed up by a chorus of bats — and why he felt the need to honour Cohen for his NP Session.
Q A Forest of Arms was recorded in several locations, including a women’s club and a series of caves. Would you describe it as a recorded collage?
A I feel like we probably got the best of a lot of a possible worlds because we did some out-ofthe-way studio type tracks and then brought them into location recording scenarios. For example, with Miranda Mulholland’s violin tracks and vocals we went into the Heliconian Club of Toronto, which is a century-old women’s club in Yorkville. I was trying to choose locations based on the people that were involved and also that sounded nice acoustically.
Q How did you end up recording at the Tyendinaga Cavern and Caves?
A It’s a privately owned cave system — it doesn’t belong to the government — so there wasn’t that kind of red tape. We took the classical music recording style and recreated that inside the cave, so there was tons of set up since we had a formation of microphones that are normally used to record an orchestra in a large concert hall. I feel like we spent more time setting up than we did recording.
Q Tyendinaga is home to quite a few bats.
A You can hear them on the recordings. I did acoustic versions of almost every song on the album inside the cave and there were a few bats around.
Q How were they received by your audience?
A I think they liked it. We heard a few chirps that made it onto the recordings. We got some bonus backing vocals.
Q Unlike many of your peers, from what I’ve read you actually seem to genuinely enjoy touring through Canada.
A It can be a hard slog for sure but there’s lots to be inspired by coast to coast to coast. I find being in different environments and meeting people gives me a type of energy. I find it endlessly inspiring. And getting in touch with the natural beauty in the country is really important to me. That’s a nice added benefit of continuing this conversation with music and meeting all these people in different communities. It’s tough to be away from loved ones and family but on the other hand I personally find it very inspirational.
Q Why did you choose to cover Leonard Cohen’s “Hey, That’s No Way To Say Goodbye” for your NP Session?
A It’s a classic Leonard Cohen song. I really wanted to do a classic Cohen tune to show a bit of an homage to someone who’s been hugely inspirational to the band. We didn’t really even have to work on the song very much. Everyone just knew it. It’s one of those songs that, as a Canadian musician, it’s in your DNA.
To see Tony Dekker play “Zero in the City” and “Hey, That’s No Way to Say Goodbye,” visit nationalpost.com/arts