Great Lake Swimmers Will Arrest You

When you think of country music today, you might think of tanned Texan men getting drunk in Mexico or tanned Texan women with big hair driving trucks. But helping avoid new country's slaughter of the genre is that other variety: the rootsy, folky, quieter country that Toronto-based Great Lake Swimmers completely define.

"We don't play sports bars or anything like that," GLS main man Tony Dekker says of the band's quiet challenges in noisier venues. "Generally we don't have a problem, but occasionally it can be hard to get your message across or to play quiet music, so there are times where we do struggle.

"But we're also able to somehow do it. It's kind of an arresting music, which makes people pay attention to how dark it is."

And arrest you they will with their new album, Ongiara, which is due on March 27. Though the record still has its dark and sparse moments of echoing guitars, haunting harmonies and tearful lyrics, there are also several songs with absolutely charming melodies, jamboree drumming and even happiness.

"It's hard when you go through a hard time and then you write songs about it, and that bad time goes away and you're still known for making these really droopy sad songs that follow you around wherever you go," Dekker tries to explain. "But you get to a point where you get past that stuff and want to write about other things, so I guess it reflects positivity in general.

There are definitely some heightened musical moments that move way beyond the band's "droopy" past, including some up-and-coming guest action.

"It was fun to collaborate with people, actually, because I'd never really done that before," says Dekker. "It's really been a solo effort up until now, and it was nice to let other people help out, and I'm really happy with how it turned out.

"Singing with Serena [Ryder] really made me happy because it was a great experience to work with someone who can sing like that."

Dekker also brought in Polaris Music Prize winner Owen Pallett for some orchestral extras on "Where In The World Are You."

"It was really cool to watch him work on things," says Dekker. "He's a really talented dude."

Here are Great Lake Swimmers' tour dates:
March 15 Montreal, QC @ Casa Del Popolo
March 16 Wakefield, QC @ Blacksheep Inn
March 17 Kingston, ON @ The Grad Club
March 23 Hamilton, ON @ Pepper Jack's
March 24 Brantford, ON @ The Ford Plant
March 25 Sault Ste. Marie, ON @ Loplops Gallery
March 27 Winnipeg, MB @ West End Cultural Centre
March 28 Saskatoon, SK @ Amigo's
March 29 Edmonton, AB @ Starlite Room
March 30 Calgary, AB @ Liberty Lounge
March 31 Canmore, AB @ Canmore Hotel
April 5 Vancouver, BC @ Richard's On Richards
April 6 Victoria, BC @ Lucky Bar
April 12 London, ON @ Aeolian Hall
April 14 Toronto, ON @ Church Of The Redeemer (two shows)