Great Lake Swimmers - Uncertain Country
Harbour Songs / Fontana
Released April 28th, 2023
Great Lake Swimmers’ Uncertain Country is an album that is haunting and melancholy: it makes a harmonious sound that includes a gospel choir. The album is incredibly dynamic and beautiful. Each line to each song is precise and memorable. Tony Dekker, the band’s songwriter, and vocalist described “When the Storm Has Passed” is according to him: “about changes, moving…looking backwards and forwards…the elasticity of time.”
“When the Storm Has Passed” is a stunning song, influenced by nuanced 1990s songs. The song is dreamy, featuring swaying guitar parts, while the drums make themselves known with punctuating cymbals. Some of the memorable lines include:
“When the storm has passed
And they want you to be the same as you are
A thought before dawn
It’s in the eyes, that’s where the weather is”
“Moonlight, Stay Above” features a goosebump-inducing choir to back up the song. The minimalism of the guitar and the painful lyrics, melts perfectly with the background. The album discusses a fear of abandonment, while fusing musical poetry. A wonderful folk-inspired song with illuminating guitar, and sweet melodies. The lyrics are somewhat cryptic, but that makes them all the more spellbinding, and special.
“I Tried To Reach You” mentions natural elements such as Aurora Borealis, snow, and wolves howling. A big theme throughout the album is the usage of weather as a passage through time. The emotion behind Dekker’s vocals is completely raw, and memorable. The song is soaked in sorrow and yearning. The song also features, with stunning finger-picking. The power of emotion in this song is completely immersed in animalistic connections. It is a truly haunting song featuring guitars and piano that work as a unit.
“Respect for All Living Things” is incredible. The lines:
“Lupine, ursine, leonine
Yellow feral eyes
Feeding back, but not a word”
Have tremendous power. It has a hypnotism about it that makes it impossible to ignore. The lucid language has a hint of mind-blowing musical prowess.
“Swimming Like Flying,” while the song is still tethered to their genre expression, it is a bouncy song, with great finds like “I was thinking of flying/and my mind took flight.” The song is a balance intrinsically connected to the darker elements of the album. The song features perfect drum fills. There is a mention of the risk of falling. It’s a song about falling but the reward of flying. It’s an uplifting little tune.
Dekker also notes that this song epitomizes what Great Lake Swimmers represents. “The band is fluid and always evolving. It starts and ends with my writing, but the songs themselves suggest what players and instruments might fit best with each new record and version of the live touring band.”
- Kyra MacFarlane
