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NBHAP Rating: 2,8/5
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[one_half last=”yes”]Great Lake Swimmers
A Forest Of Arms
Release-Date: 21.04.2015
Label: Nettwerk Records
Tracklist:
01. Something Like A Storm
02. Zero In The City
03. Shaking All Over
04. Don’t Leave Me Hanging
05. One More Charge At The Red Cape
06. I Was A Wayward Pastel Bay
07. A Bird Flew Inside The House
08. A Jukebox In A Desert Of Snow
09. I Must Have Someone Else’s Blues
10. The Great Bear
11. With Every Departure
12. Expecting You
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Existence determines consciousness
In best materialists tradition, songwriter Tony Dekker’s folk rock outfit GREAT LAKE SWIMMERS have always been as much about writing good songs as they have been about where they actually sound best. They recorded the glorious debut record Great Lake Swimmers in an old grain silo – where Tony Dekker was left alone with his blooming words and soothing, gentle folk ballads. In an attempt to go back to such a place which might elevate the sound of the album, some of these recordings took place in the Tyendinaga Cavern and Caves in Tyendinaga, Ontario. And it’s these moments on A Forest Of Arms that contain some of the old bliss, moments in which the setting of the recording shines through the sparse and direct songs. But they don’t seem to be able to carry the album as a whole.
Nature vs Nurture
Not only have Tony Dekker’s lyrics always used a great amount of nature-related imagery – even in terms of human relationships. Furthermore, GREAT LAKE SWIMMERS have been involved in the protection of nature on a very concrete level for several years now. Especially Dekker, who is working with the World Wildlife Foundation now and then, keeps on stressing environmental issues in his home country in and outside of music. In rare moments this blends into GREAT LAKE SWIMMERS‘ songs nicely. More often though, the imagery seems forced nowadays.
Sad men with acoustic guitars
In A Forest Of Arms best moments (Don’t Leave Me Hanging, The Great Bear) Dekkers voice and words resonate on a mysterious, magical level, just like they did in the days of GREAT LAKE SWIMMERS‘ early albums. But pretty similar to the somewhat nice but arbitrary folk rock of this album’s predecessor New Wild Everywhere, the Great Lake Swimmers’ formula has once again reached its limits with A Forest Of Arms. It seems strangely outdated at times – unfortunately not in a good way. Tony Dekker remains to be an outstanding songwriter if he comes back to being the infamous sad man with an acoustic guitar. The rest of A Forest Of Arms is simply too slick to really matter.
The GREAT LAKE SWIMMERS new album ‘A Forest Of Arms’ reveals their strengths as well as their weaknesses – unfortunately, the latter dominate.
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