Great Lake Swimmers – Live at St. James Hall, Vancouver
Photographs by Jennifer Picard
So the Junos were Vancouver’s hot ticket Sunday night, right?
Not so!
Great Lake Swimmers played a transcendent show at St. James Hall, a surprisingly comfortable and engaging venue. A veritable representation of the quality of Canadian music these days, Great Lake Swimmers were in fine form.
Kate Maki, sounding like Kathleen Edwards’ kid sister or the offspring of Aimee Mann and Neil Young, schooled the audience on the importance of guitar tuning, and warmed our hearts with her brand of acoustic folk rock.
Ghostly helium balloons hung from the rafters above our heads, the stage lit only by spotlight. Around 9pm, vocalist/guitarist Tony Dekker graced the stage, joined by Erik Arnesen (banjo, electric guitar), Julie Fader (keys, vocals), Greg Millson (drums) and Bret Higgins (bass). The band got off to an awkward start on “Let’s Trade Skins”, the drumming trapped in the rafters here and there, but well-supported by banjo, shaker, and harmonica.
“Various Stages”, its first few notes wavering, was all about toe-tapping. Fader and Dekker’s harmonies on “How high / your highest of heights” rang like crystal through the small space. Dekker spent the majority of the song looking down, opening his mouth just a crack to allow his gorgeous voice to ascend. Although very rarely making eye contact, it was apparent that Dekker’s songs aim to connect with and affect his audience. Despite his shy demeanor, Dekker’s performance was captivating, particularly when soloing – like an angel bathed in a single spotlight, swaying.
The band showcased a few of their more recent compositions included on new release Lost Channels. “The Chorus in the Underground”, one of these, is a song about a memorable A Northern Chorus (since disbanded) show a few years ago at The Underground, a now-defunct venue in Hamilton. A livelier number, it prompted more movement onstage, with Dekker getting his shoulders into it and Higgins closing his eyes, head back.
“Changing Colours” was beautifully delivered, and followed up with another new one, “She Comes To Me In Dreams”, about being visited in a dream – a Dylan-esque composition, considerably louder and more electric, and very repetitive. “Having people visit me in dreams is handy,” said Dekker, “’cause I’m not on Facebook.”
The band left the stage and Dekker tuned his new guitar, explaining that “the songs are already in the guitar. You just have to find a way to get them out.”
Alone on stage, his voice somehow seemed stronger. The beautiful “There is a Light” provoked many whistles from the crowd. Dekker followed it up with “Concrete Heart”, a song inspired by 50s-70s architecture: “I saw I love you all over the place…that is where the Stones played once”. During “Merge, A Vessel, A Harbour”, Dekker sounded like a whole band all on his own – his voice reverberating throughout the crowded room.
The full band rejoined him, asking the crowd to help them out with a foot stomp on “Rocky Spine”, the most positively received song in their set. Fifty minutes in they debuted “Pulling on a Line”, the first single off the new album. An interesting drum part on “Everything Is Moving So Fast” was helpful to break up the boredom of the ¾ time signature – Great Lake Swimmers do love a waltz!
“New Light” featured Fader on a very quiet flute part, and her harmonies with Dekker on “Song for the Angels” were incredibly moving.
“Was it uplifting or was it deformed?”, Dekker sang, smoothly transitioning into a sped-up version of “Bodies and Minds”.
Uplifting? For sure.
Great Lake Swimmers is touring sit-down venues all over North America from now until the end of April, and will be in Toronto on April 25 at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre.
MP3:
Great Lake Swimmers – Everything is Moving so Fast
Great Lake Swimmers – Palmistry
Tags: concert
Do you want to review their album? We were given a copy and considering you just did a concert review, I figure you deserve the first shot.