Great Lake Swimmers won me over with the beauty and simplicity of their last album, Ongiara. It was a slow moving album with Tony Dekker’s signature vocals echoing over one or two stringed instruments, usually a banjo or acoustic guitar. The music connected with me deeply and became an addiction for a few winter months. Now it’s Spring and GLS’s latest release, Lost Channels, is my latest vice.
And Spring is the perfect time to listen to Lost Channels. While Ongiara was sparse and desolate, this album is warm and lush. It’s like the sun rising on a brisk spring morning to melt the dew off the grass. And while Dekker is still the force of the band, his presence is more balanced this time around with bandmates Erik Arnesen, Colin Huebert and Julie Fader providing a textured foundation for each song. You’ll hear more electric guitar and even a bit of pedal steel to satisfy your twang craving. There are also more mid and uptempo tracks like “Palmistry,” “Pulling On A Line,” “She Comes To Me In Dreams” and the banjo-picked “The Chorus In The Underground.”
Great Lake Swimmers display more mature melody and production on Lost Channels and Tony Dekker proves that he’s one of indie music’s premier songwriters. This is one of the best albums of 2009 so far.
As my crush with Weewerk Records begins to blossom into a full-fledged affair, they’ve now introduced me to Canteen Knockout out of Toronto. Like many of our favorite artists, Canteen Knockout mix a little bit of alt with a little bit of country.
Navajo Steel, the Toronto outfit’s first LP, is best served on a long road trip. As it reads on their press kit, the album is “beautifully-crafted yet
high-energy music inspired by long journeys along the road less traveled through hot, dry places; and a thirst that can never be fully quenched.”
The album has a cast of characters and host of experiences that resonate with the road weary. Vocalist and founder, Andre Skinner, has a wonderful voice for spinning yarns – the sound is slightly worn, but warm and earnest. It immediately draws you in and keeps you interested throughout each story’s twists and turns.
Picking favorite tracks off of the album isn’t easy because it’s best digested as a whole, but “Mexico” is a wondrous tune. “Bill Cody” and “Overnight Girl” are two of the characters that you’ll meet throughout the journey and “Balls Out Trucking” is the true kick-ass rocker that the name suggests.
Navajo Steel is akin to a dusty pair of jeans. They are a little musty, real comfortable and, if they could talk, I’m sure they’d sit you on a knee and tell of the sights and sounds from Mexico to Canada, where Canteen Knockout call home.
