UNCHARTED WATERS
Great Lake Swimmers head to the Gatineau Hills with new album Uncertain Country
Southern Ontario-based folk band Great Lake Swimmers is known for recording music on location in unorthodox settings, whether it's an abandoned silo, a castle in the Thousand Islands, a Toronto subway station or a series of caves in Ontario.
But their gorgeous new album, Uncertain Country, is the Swimmers' first to be inspired by a Great Lake — specifically Lake Superior and its North Shore, a region that singer-songwriter Tony Dekker describes as “probably my favourite part of Canada.”
Dekker, who brings the band to the Gatineau Hills this weekend, originally envisioned the project as an immersive concept album that would start with a visit to Superior, where he'd be writing songs and recording demos from Manitoulin Island to Thunder Bay. Accompanied by engineer Joe Lapinski, who co-produced the album with Dekker, and videographer Adam CK Vollick, he made the trip in 2019.
However, when it came time to flesh out the music in the studio a few months later, plans were derailed by the COVID -19 pandemic. Out of necessity, the focus shifted.
“The seeds for the album were planted on that trip to Lake Superior but when things started to change in the world, it shifted and it became more about addressing themes of anxiety and trying to find a balm for them through music,” Dekker said in an interview.
He had already written the fluid title track, taking inspiration from the uncertainty of the world around him as he reflected on the climate crisis and the influence of social media, then found it worked in the context of the pandemic, too.
“When we went in and recorded that one, it just felt like it was really speaking to the moment,” Dekker said, noting that the “country” he refers to in the lyric is not a geographical place but instead comes from the general feeling that the future is up in the air.
Partly because of the pandemic-prompted delays, the album took more time than usual to make, Dekker added, but he was also able to gain access to some off-the-beaten-track locations for recording near his home in the Niagara region. Among them were the historic buildings at Ball's Falls Conservation Area near Jordan, Ont., and a church in St. Catharines that's more than 200 years old.
For Dekker, recording music in unusual locations draws out a more focused performance and adds a sonic layer that enhances the song, while the effort of setting up a mobile studio inspires a “reverent” attitude toward the process.
“If we're having a good day and the band is playing well and listening to each other, there's a certain feel that comes out of that,” he says.
When things started to change in the world ... it became more about addressing themes of anxiety and trying to find a balm for them through music.
“I can feel it on the recording. It's something that's been a throughline with all our recordings, and it's been really important to me.”
No less important is Dekker's connection to the natural world, an influence that stems from being raised on a farm. In the new songs, the imagery finds him gazing at the moon, welcoming spring, swimming in a lake and following a river.
“It's a complicated point in time that we find ourselves in right now,” he observes. “I'm trying to celebrate the beauty of the environment while also being very concerned about its future and the state of it going forward.”
Meanwhile, as the band prepares for some major touring this year (including an NAC gig on Sept. 15), with a lineup that includes longtime members Erik Arnesen on banjo and guitar, Bret Higgins on bass and multi-instrumentalist Kelsey Mcnulty, Dekker says it almost feels like starting over. “For us, it's been quite some time and I have to say it really feels great to be out there again, to be playing music and sharing it with people. I hope people haven't completely forgotten about our band.”
In the Wakefield area, the band is a hot ticket, having sold out Sunday's show at the Lascelles general store, north of the village, in less than a day. Mind you, fewer than 40 tickets were available for the intimate engagement, which is part of a concert series that store owners David and Becki Irvine launched earlier this year. The performances take place in a room on the second floor, and there are plans to host outdoor shows by summer.
David said the idea to present live music came from a social media post by singer-songwriter Jim Bryson, who wished that someone would invite him to play a house concert.
It was a light-bulb moment for David, a drummer and photographer who used to work at Wakefield's Kaffe 1870. “I thought, `Heck, we have the space. We love music. Let's make it happen,'” he said, describing their first show, a sold-out February gig with Bryson, as a “raging success.”
Other shows in the last couple of months have featured singer-songwriter Lynn Miles and Montreal's L'il Andy, while upcoming gigs with Zachary Lucky, Andrew Penner, the Montreal Horn Stars and Elliott Brood are also confirmed. Each date is billed as a private, licensed concert and advance tickets are required, available by emailing mglapeche@gmail.com. They tend to sell out quickly.
For the Irvines, part of the fun of hosting concerts is that people don't expect to see a great show in an out-of-the-way place. They also hope to give touring artists an extra date between Toronto and Montreal, and put the store — formally called Magasin général La Pêche — on the map.
“We took the first few steps to try and get recognizable names here, and create that intrigue of `What the heck is going on up there?'” David said. “We want to be on people's radar that it's OK to come out here. That's our long game.”
Plus, with no news on the reopening of Wakefield's Black Sheep Inn, everyone in the area appreciates another live-music option.