Great Lake Swimmers

Great Lake Swimmers | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 5, 2005)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Misra Records
• ASIN: B0007UDCJO
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #173,882 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Mojo

"Beautiful, bittersweet, drifting, late-summer melancholia."

Product Description

Easily the most captivating combination of ghostly vocals, hypnotic songs, and environmental atmospherics in a long time. Goose bumps guaranteed! Recorded in an abandoned grain silo. Tony Dekker's songs and singing have been compared to Mojave 3's Neil Halstead as well as a quiet My Morning Jacket. Ten tracks packaged in a digipak. Fargo. 2004. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars phenomenal first album, September 20, 2005

By 

Rudy Foolish "mountain bucko" (Morgantown, WV USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Great Lake Swimmers (Audio CD)

After having massively warped my copy of "Bodies & Minds," their newest release, from overuse in my car stereo, I recently caught a GLS show at a small local music café, where tragically there were less than 20 people in attendance, and where I was first introduced to the 10 ethereal, overpowering songs from this album, their first. Tony Dekker, finger-picking a very cello-sounding Seagull guitar, laid waste to the place. His vocals alone were enough to make you put off that bathroom break for painfully long stretches of time, striking a balance between the hushed intimacy of Sam Beam's whispered lullabies and the impressive range of Tim Buckley's operatic tenor. "Moving Pictures, Silent Films," a song in which the chord progression tumbles down the pentatonic scale in 3 sorrowful little movements, put more than a few lumps in the throats of those listening. And if "Merge, A Vessel" didn't leave the entire audience grief-stricken, "This is Not Like Home" left most digging in their pockets and purses for Kleenex, or choking down beer to regain composure. While I might be making their music sound like a trip to the funeral home, consider the monumental difficulty in creating something that has both the emotional and personal resonance as such a deathly event. Then consider whether or not it is time to stop ingesting sugar-coated, sunny pop numbers that deny a dismal reality for songs that look it square in the eye and embrace it.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Where have these guys been hiding?, October 9, 2006

By 

Jeremy P. Durand (Garland, TX United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Great Lake Swimmers (Audio CD)

Or have I just been living in a bubble?

Great Lake Swimmers is one of the better bands I've heard in a long while. A refreshing deviation from the overhyped, mainstream offerings currently playing over the airwaves.

I agree with some that the songs are definitely not going to make you feel like all is sunny and sparkling in the world. They are, however, extremely beautiful and Tony Dekker's voice has a soothing quality about it that is very appealing.

I definitely hear some Neil Young influence. They also remind me a bit of South San Gabriel (specifically, Will Johnson).

If you like Iron & Wine (Sam Beam)or the artists referenced above, you'll likely enjoy this album.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, June 12, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Great Lake Swimmer (Audio CD)

Drenched in reverb, like My Morning Jacket, but much softer and with kick-ass melodies. Definitely worth listening to, especially if you are a fan of After the Gold Rush-era Neil Young.