Great Lake Swimmers Paddle On

05/01/09 2:49pm

by Scott Bryson (CHARTattack)

Toronto-based folk-rock outfit Great Lake Swimmers really know how to rack up the kilometres. The initial leg of touring for their fourth full-length, Lost Channels, is complete, and songwriter/singer/guitarist Tony Dekker welcomes the break, since his band just played a solid string of 40 shows.

"Two months..." Dekker sighs. "This [April 25 Toronto gig] is the last show of our North American tour. We started off in Newfoundland, did shows all the way across to Vancouver, down the west coast of the United States, across the bottom, through Los Angeles and Tucson, Arizona, Austin, Texas, up the east coast into Georgia, Nashville, North Carolina, up to the northeast — New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, back across to the Midwest and ended up in Chicago and Minneapolis."

"Home" may be a diluted concept for Dekker at this point, but itinerancy seems to suit him. Very little of Lost Channels was recorded in Toronto and previous Great Lake Swimmers albums were no different.

Dekker and a few of his bandmates travelled to Ontario's 1,000 Islands region and recorded the disc in some unusual locations, including a castle.

"We've been doing that over the course of our last four albums," he says, "and we eventually got to the point where it's about trying to capture an acoustic sound, but it's also about trying to capture a little bit of the energy of the place.

"I think that recording in a special place draws a certain kind of performance out of you. That has become equally important to the sonic qualities [of our records]."

After the Thousand Islands recording sessions were complete, Dekker took the tapes to long-time collaborator Andy Magoffin (Two-Minute Miracles) who helped him put the finishing touches on Lost Channels.

"He co-produced it," Dekker says. "He has been working with us since 2004, and I feel like working with Andy has built up to this point — like we've been working towards this record for the last five years, in a way."

Dekker and his touring band — Erik Arensen, Julie Fader, Darcy Yates and Greg Millson — are back on the road this week after the short break. They're heading to Europe for a month, but will return to Canada for a few shows in June and July.

Here's where you can catch them:

May 1 Ghent, Belgium @ Vooruit
May 2 Utrecht, Netherlands @ DB's
May 4 Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Paradiso w/Shearwater
May 5 Hamburg, Germany @ Knust w/Shearwater
May 6 Gothenburg, Sweden @ Pustervik
May 7 Oslo, Norway @ John Dee
May 8 Stockholm, Sweden @ SVMK
May 10 Berlin, Germany @ Festsaal Kreuzberg
May 11 Leipzig, Germany @ UT Connewitz
May 12 Dresden, Germany @ Beatpol
May 13 Fulda, Germany @ Kulturzentrum Kreuz
May 14 Schorndorf, Germany @ Club Manufaktur
May 15 Ottersum, Netherlands @ Cultureel Podium Roepaen
May 16 Brussels, Belgium @ Les Nuits De Botanique
May 18 Bristol, England @ St. Bonaventures
May 19 Manchester, England @ Dulcimer Bar
May 20 Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, England @ The Cluny Bar
May 21 Glasgow, Scotland @ The Twisted Wheel
May 22 Birmingham, England @ The Glee Club
May 23 London, England @ Borderline
May 24 Tourcoing, France @ Le Grand Mix
May 26 Paris, France @ L'International
May 27 Niort, France @ CAMJI
May 28 Bordeaux, France @ Espace Tatry
May 30 Madrid, Spain @ Moby Dick
June 13 Niagara Falls, ON @ Oak Amphitheatre
June 19 Ottawa, ON @ First Baptist Church
June 20 Montreal, QC @ Plaza St. Hubert w/Timber Timbre
July 9-12 Winnipeg, MB @ Birds Hill Park (Winnipeg Folk Festival)