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Rating: Ontario, where this semi-unknown (at least in our parts) Canadian band hails from, can be imagined as a place offering enchanting landscapes: lakes, forests, mountains, and remote highways to travel, searching for inspiration for an album like this "Lost Channels".
With their fourth studio effort, the Great Lake Swimmers offer the audience a remarkable lesson in songwriting. Let’s say it right away, this album is not a masterpiece, but it is undoubtedly a great album. Tony Dekker, the brain behind the Canadian band, confidently treads the paths of folk without great embellishments or experimentation, and it's frankly a pleasure to be carried away by tracks like "Palmistry" or "Pulling on a Line." The sound is well-crafted, and the DIY production by Dekker and Andy Magoffin is impeccable. Outstanding ballads like "Concrete Heart" and "Singer Castle Bells," and the wonderful "Unison Falling into Harmony" complete the picture, leaving the listener with images of "Northwest Passage" landscapes. Besides classic folk, the Swimmers show they have learned a great deal from the musical experiences of more mainstream bands (but with an indie legacy), like the REM. The step towards these bands is short, and in tracks like "She Comes to Me in Dreams," we recognize the more intimate REM. Additionally, Dekker proves to be a master at swimming in the lake of North American musical tradition. "The Chorus in the Underground" demonstrates an attachment to this tradition, touching on Bluegrass registers and highlighting Erin Aurich's violin and Erik Arnesen's tenor banjo.
With "Lost Channels," by the way, the title refers to a particular area of Ontario's Great Lakes, the Great Lake Swimmers fully enter the Indie-Folk cauldron of the 2000s, alongside more renowned names (but not necessarily better) like Fleet Foxes and Iron & Wine. "Lost Channels" remains a delicate and precious work, to be listened to on rainy afternoons, while reading a good book on the home sofa, or perhaps in the car, driving along a mountain road. If you're looking for a singer-songwriter masterpiece, we direct you towards the likes of Bob Dylan, Neil Young, and Joni Mitchell (to stay in Canada), Buckley (father and son), or perhaps to stay in the indie scene, the American Music Club of "California"; if, however, you just want a good album and to discover a band with excellent potential (only partly expressed with this work), then "Lost Channels" is just what you need!!
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
03 Pulling on a Line (03:19)
The line runs through like a train in a book
Or meters underwater, ending with a hook
Sways in the air when there's wind enough to lift
The fine ones are boundaries when there is a rift
I'm just pulling on a line, on a line
Oh I'm just pulling on a line
I'm just pulling on a line, on a line
But sometimes it pulls on me
The line, it inks across the freshly fallen snow
Where only those embracing coldness would go
In whistles and in whispers and sometimes in howls
It sings to me sweetly from trees and in vowels
I'm just pulling on a line, on a line
Oh I'm just pulling on a line
I'm just pulling on a line, on a line
But sometimes it pulls on me
The line, it writes itself across the dark sky
In the air, electric flashes ending with a sigh
It weaves itself into a fabric so true
And flows just like the river, graceful and blue
I'm just pulling on a line, on a line
Oh I'm just pulling on a line
I'm just pulling on a line, on a line
But sometimes it pulls on me
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