One of contemporary Canadian folk-rock’s greatest mysteries: Are Great Lake Swimmers GREAT LAKE Swimmers? Or just great LAKE SWIMMERS?
Either way, 2018 marks the group’s 15th anniversary; and boy-oh-boy do they have a buttload of stuff going on! Most prominently, they’ve got a new album, The Waves, The Wake, coming out on August 17 via Nettwerk. (And dang, the nautically-inclined title sure makes it sound pretty lake-y!)
To compose the album, frontperson Tony Dekker reportedly forwent his usual acoustic guitar in favor of less-familiar instruments. In addition to that full-length, the group just put out an EP, Side Effects, last Friday. AND in addition to THAT, the band ALSO has big, long coast-to-coast tour (of Canada) coming up too!
And as if all that weren’t enough, the press release for The Waves, the Wake warns us to “stay tuned for more updates from Great Lake Swimmers in the coming weeks.” They already have an album, an EP, and a (Canadian) tour, WHAT MORE COULD THERE POSSIBLY BE?!?
Here are some uneducated guesses:
- A cover of Gordon Lightfoot’s “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.”
- A new triple-album.
- Tour dates of the Great Lakes themselves on some sort of barge or pontoon boat.
- Great Lakes Swimmers Swim Greatly the Great Lakes, a travelogue/memoir by Swimmers frontperson Tony Dekker (about a long-distance swimming tour of the titular lakes).
- One of those newfangled “visual albums” — like Frank Ocean’s Endless, except it’s an animated recreation of the slow process of glaciers melting to form Lake Superior.
Aaaanyway: below these words, you can peruse the tracklist for The Waves, the Wake and Great Lake Swimmers’ tour dates. You can also check out the new video clip for the full-length’s opener “The Talking Wind” while you’re at it. Stay dry, readers!
The Waves, The Wake Track Listing:
01. The Talking Wind
02. In A Certain Light
03. Alone But Not Alone
04. Falling Apart
05. Side Effects
06. The Real Work
07. Root Systems
08. Unmaking The Bed
09. Visions Of A Different World
10. Holding Nothing Back
11. Mouth Of Flames
12. The Open Sea
Great Lake Swimmers tour:
04.21.18 – Uxbridge, Ontario - Springtide Music Festival
05.04.18 – Hamilton, Ontario - Mills Hardware
05.05.18 – Creemore, Ontario - Avening Community Centre
05.25.18 – Burnstown, Ontario - Neat Coffee Shop
06.02.18 – Windsor, Ontario - Olde Walkerville Theatre
07.06.18 – 07.08.2018 – Kincardine, Ontario - Kincardine Scottish Festival
08.21.18 – Gravenhurst, Ontario - Peter’s Players
09.13.18 – Regina, Saskatchewan - The Exchange
09.14.18 – Saskatoon, Saskatchewan - Broadway Theatre
09.15.18 – Sherwood Park, Alberta - Festival Place
09.16.18 – Calgary, Alberta - Festival Hall
09.17.18 – Nelson, British Columbia - Spirit Bar
09.20.18 – Victoria, British Columbia - Capital Ballroom
09.21.18 – Vancouver, British Columbia - Imperial
09.22.18 – Penticton, British Columbia - The Dream Café
09.24.18 – Red Deer, Alberta - Bo’s Bar
09.26.18 – Winnipeg, Manitoba - West End Cultural Centre
09.27.18 – Thunder Bay, Ontario - Crocks
09.29.18 – Sudbury, Ontario - The Townhouse