GREAT LAKE SWIMMERS ANNOUNCE NEW ACOUSTIC LP OF THE WAVES, THE WAKE

DIGITAL AND LP VERSIONS OF THE WAVES, THE WAKE (ACOUSTIC) OUT NOVEMBER 8

 PRE-ORDER THE WAVES, THE WAKE (ACOUSTIC) LP HERE

WATCH AND SHARE A NEW ACOUSTIC VIDEO FOR THE WAVES, THE WAKE ACOUSTIC VERSION OF “IN A CERTAIN LIGHT” RECORDED AT SLEEPING GIANT PROVINCIAL PARK HERE

"Dekker renews Great Lake Swimmers' sound while still retaining the atmospheric singing and subtle yet intricate guitar playing that are quintessential to the band. It's a tricky balance, but Dekker and his sprawling team of contributors pull it off with aplomb.” - Exclaim!

“…a beautiful, hypnotic track wrapped in a rich, comforting warmth…” – CBC

“’Alone But Not Alone’ is a breezy 60s inspired track that’s more than meets the eye” – NOISEY

Photo Credit : Joe Lapinksi // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES

Today, Great Lake Swimmers are announcing the new acoustic version of their latest LP, The Waves, The Wake, out November 8. “There were a handful of demos from the album recording that were very scaled back and stark,” says songwriter Tony Dekker. “I recorded a few more with producer Joe Lapinski – those turned out so well that we decided to do a full album of acoustic versions from The Waves, The Wake. No frills, no weighty production, just voice and guitar. It’s meant to be a companion piece to our latest release.”

The limited edition LP is available for pre-order exclusively through the band’s website, on limited edition 180-gram vinyl, with original artwork by Niagara artist Geoff Farnsworth. Pre-ordered LPs will ship on the album release day, November 8.

The JUNO Award nominated and Polaris Music Prize shortlisted band are also sharing a new video for the acoustic version of “In A Certain Light” from the LP, which was recorded in Sleeping Giant Provincial Park.

“The northern shore of Lake Superior has an intense grip on my imagination and I wanted to make a dedicated trip to explore more deeply its mythology and wild landscapes,” says Dekker. “In conjunction with Ontario Creates, we set off on an exploratory trip this past July documenting sounds by way of audio field recordings, visual footage, gathering inspiration for new songs, and recording demos in the locations we found ourselves in. The ultimate destination was Sleeping Giant Provincial Park. This will be the heart of the next Great Lake Swimmers album, which is currently a work in progress.” 

WATCH AND SHARE “IN A CERTAIN LIGHT” HERE

Beginning September 21, Great Lake Swimmers will continue their summer tour dates across Canada. Full tour dates can be found below and tickets can be purchased at www.greatlakeswimmers.com.

 Released earlier this year, The Waves, The Wake was recorded in the 145-year-old Bishop Cronyn Memorial Church and produced by Chris Stringer (Union Sound). On the LP, Dekker decided to challenge himself by writing new music without any acoustic guitar, which has always been his instrumental mainstay. Each song on the album is brought to life in its own distinctive way, using an acoustic palette that includes woodwinds, harp, congas, marimba and pipe organ.

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GREAT LAKE SWIMMERS ON TOUR
Sept. 21: Saint John, NB @ Peppers Pub
Sept. 23: Moncton, NB @ Capitol Theatre w/ Jenn Grant
Sept. 24: Fredericton, NB @ The Playhouse, w/ Jenn Grant
Sept. 25: Georgetown, PE @ King’s Playhouse
Sept. 26: Halifax, NS @ The Seahorse
Sept. 27: Annapolis Royal, NS @ King’s Theatre
Sept. 29: Sackville, NB @ Thunder & Lightning w/ Colleen Brown
Oct. 1: Quebec City, QC @ L’Anti w/ Colleen Brown
Oct. 2: Montreal, QC @ Studio Base Bin
Oct. 3: Ottawa, ON @ The 27 Club w/ Colleen Brown
Oct. 5: Grimsby, ON @ Station 1
Oct. 6: Napanee, ON @ Doghouse Studios w/ Colleen Brown
Oct. 8: Collingwood, ON @ Crow Sessions with host Jeff Woods (Sold Out)
Oct. 9: Gravenhurst, ON @ Peter’s Players
Oct. 17: Paris, ON @ Dominion Telegraph Hall (Sold Out)

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THE WAVES, THE WAKE (ACOUSTIC) TRACKLIST
01 The Talking Wind (Acoustic)
02 In A Certain Light (Acoustic)
03 Alone But Not Alone (Acoustic)
04 Falling Apart (Acoustic)
05 Side Effects (Acoustic)
06 The Real Work (Acoustic)
07 Root Systems (Acoustic)
08 Unmaking The Bed (Acoustic)
09 Visions Of A Different World (Acoustic)
10 Holding Nothing Back (Acoustic)
11 Mouth Of Flames (Acoustic)
12 The Open Sea (Acoustic)

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ANDRÉ ETHIER SHARES “JENNY THE BLUES” FROM UPCOMING LP

LISTEN AND SHARE “JENNY THE BLUES” HERE

CROAK IN THE WEEDS DUE OUT OCTOBER 11 VIA TELEPHONE EXPLOSION

PRE-ORDER CROAK IN THE WEEDS HERE

“A raw and sparse meditation on nature, aging and existence, it’s unhurried and subtly clever – like a Canadian Bill Callahan.” - NOW Toronto

Photo Credit : Colin Medley // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES

Today, ex-Deadly Snakes frontman André Ethier shares the second new track from his upcoming LP, Croak In The Weeds. “Jenny The Blues” is a funky little song about feeling sorry for yourself,” claims Ethier. “ And remember, you can't wash the blues off a cop.”

LISTEN AND SHARE “JENNY THE BLUES” HERE

Due October 11 via Telephone Explosion Records, the nine-song LP was created in collaboration with Sandro Perri (producer) at his Toronto studio in late 2018 / early 2019.

On the LP, Ethier explains: “I was imagining a pond at the swamp. A pond gets murkier the deeper you dive. Frogs are amphibians. They’re in and out of the pond like it’s no big deal, but we stay mostly on the shore and only peer in. Then, when the weather is right, the pond rises in a mist and we can breathe it too. We can be in the pond but also on the shore.”

Croak In The Weeds continues Ethier and Perri’s musical relationship which was originally established on 2017’s Under Grape Leaves. Croak expands upon that album, deconstructing synthetic elements to a point of raw organic beauty. Lyrically, André’s approach has shifted to the natural world, focusing heavily on flora and fauna. Almost every track on the 34-minute album references animals, with central characters ranging from pigs to dragons. 

This is André’s third attempt at a trilogy of records. Previous attempts have stalled for various reasons; disillusionment with genre, unrealistic sense of self, arachnophobia... Though it would not be inaccurate to suggest that he now has completed a trilogy of unfinished trilogies (he would thank you for your optimistic reasoning,) and is still planning to finish this one. Regarding trilogies, André opines: “In the first you establish the tools and build yourself a room, in the sequel you live in the room and imagine what’s outside, finally in the third.... you escape?”

He doesn’t know, he has never gone all the way…

WATCH AND SHARE “DREAM ON PIGS” HERE

MORE ON ANDRÉ ETHIER

André Ethier has been steadily creating a body of work over the last 20 years. An artist who works in two mediums, music and painting, he does so both synergistically and separately, depending on his whim. He currently enjoys a humble, cult-like status with concertgoers and gallery patrons alike.

He began his career releasing four albums with seminal garage-rockers The Deadly Snakes, the last of which, 2005’s Porcella, was Polaris Music Prize-shortlisted in the award’s inaugural year. He then released five solo albums, taking a nine-year hiatus from releasing music after the third to raise a family. In 2018, he returned with Under Grape Leaves and a sound that fell directly in-line with the thickly stroked and wryly humorous characters in his newly discovered style of painting, revealing a new world that is connected both sonically and visually.

André’s career has seen all the ups, downs and transcendent moments that come with two decades of experience. His paintings have been reviewed in the New York Times and continue to be shown in galleries worldwide. He sang the Canadian national anthem at a 2007 Los Angeles Dodgers game (the team’s then-outfielder was also named André Ethier.) Afterwards, he received a congratulatory hug from Lisa Loeb, who sang the American version and was suffering from an extreme bout of stage fright. Anyone who listens to André’s recent work will attest to the fact that he has undergone a musical resurgence. André's work has never felt as fresh, full of life and truly unique as it does today.

PRE-ORDER CROAK IN THE WEEDS HERE

PAST PRAISE FOR ANDRÉ ETHIER

“André Ethier is a world-class storyteller-songwriter on Under Grape Leaves” - Now Magazine 

“Slow, soft-spoken and built around spare voice/guitar/drum-machine arrangements overseen by esteemed Toronto experimentalist Sandro Perri, Under Grape Leaves adopts a pensive tone to match Ethier’s ruminations” - The Toronto Star  

“Andre Ethier’s ‘Under Grape Leaves’ leaves you with a sense pure calm” - Broken Pencil 

“Under Grape Leaves, a soothing but still powerful journey through the lush, untamed expanse of the mind and soul.” - Dominionated

“Under Grape Leaves is a nuanced collection of intimate songs recorded by Sandro Perri.” - Northern Transmissions

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CROAK IN THE WEEDS TRACKLIST
01 Dream On Pigs
02 Croaks In The Weeds
03 Wedding Band
04 Two Dogs
05 Jenny The Blues
06 Sigfried Slays The Dragon
07 Summer Evening Pigs
08 Froggy
09 Foolish Love

ANDRÉ ETHIER ONLINE
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WINTERSLEEP SHARE NEW VIDEO FOR “FREE FALL”

WATCH AND SHARE “FREE FALL” HERE

“FREE FALL” / “FADING OUT” OUT NOW VIA DINE ALONE

LISTEN AND SHARE “FREE FALL” / “FADING OUT” HERE

CANADIAN TOUR DATES CONTINUE OCTOBER 3

Photo Credit: Scott Munn // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES


Today, Wintersleep are sharing the video for their new track “Free Fall”. Released digitally alongside “Fading Out” earlier this month - the songs having originally been an exclusive 7" for Record Store Day - the “Free Fall” video lands just as the band get their EU / UK tour underway. “Free Fall” again sees the band link up with award-winning film-maker Christopher Mills - creator of their astonishing animated video for “Forest Fire” - who offered the following thoughts on project:

"For me, this song is the sound of the wind if you're in a forever fall through a bright and colourful sky. If you were falling into infinity, it seems likely that, at some point, the world around you would become abstract, and you might imagine people falling around you, or the shapes of their bodies absorbed into clouds that would then shift and evaporate into even more abstract shapes.

The urgency of this music, romantically embracing what could be our last epic journey of a plastic-congested spin around the earth was something I wanted to turn into a bright and flashing dance video you could put up on your video projector with your friends. The construction of this idea and world is a bit like taking an old spinning rolodex, and adding layers upon layers of clouds, atmosphere, and people. Free Fall wanted to feel like a sort of cuckoo clock like installation that could sit on your desktop, for you to get lost in. Static paintings find their movement through spinning layers, and data-moshing. The video ends with a sombre reflection of the last fall from grace into a plastic polluted, dystopian sea, no less beautiful because of its floating forms, and endless blue colours." 

WATCH AND SHARE “FREE FALL” HERE

“Free Fall” and “Fading Out” mark the latest in a particularly fruitful release period for the band, having earlier this year put out their seventh full-length album In The Land Of – a long-listed album for the Polaris Music Prize. Last week, the band received a further three Music Nova Scotia nominations, for Alternative Recording, Group Recording and Best Video for “Forest Fire”. They also contributed a track, “The Twist”, to the recent Tiny Changes - A Celebration of The Midnight Organ Fight (Atlantic Records) release, a tribute to the late Frightened Rabbit singer Scott Hutchison, to whom the band had become close co-conspirators.

Like all Wintersleep records, In the Land Of encourages thought and introspection. The new record’s title is an incomplete thought, a blank that is filled in across the record with different places, words, and sounds. “Free Fall” and “Fading Out” mark themselves out as outstanding additions to the band’s canon – proud extensions to the album - all thoughtful anthemia and rousing, sky-high melodies.

The band says of them, "These are both songs we’re incredibly proud of recording and sharing with you. ‘Free Fall’ is a really exciting song for us. It taps into our love of progressive rock songwriting. We kept it off In the Land Of because it has such a strong identity on its own. ‘Fading Out’ is a sort of bridge from Great Detachment to In the Land Of era of songs, completed a bit too late to be included with Great Detachment but one of the first tracks we worked on when we started getting ready for In the Land Of. It’s interesting as it sort of gave In the Land Of a direction but ended up being a bit of an outlier. It has this neat guitar line that somehow ties in sonically with ‘Free Fall’ and feels like a really good accompanying track. Both songs centre around the idea of dissolution. ‘Fading Out’ starts as a sort of conversation about a dissolving relationship. ‘Free Fall’ around the idea of coming to terms with the death of a loved one, how to continue living with someone after they have passed, taking the relationship forward into the future."

LISTEN AND SHARE “FREE FALL” / “FADING OUT” HERE

This month, Wintersleep are on the road with tour dates throughout Europe and the UK, before heading home to play a number of dates in North America. Full tour dates can be found below. The JUNO Award winners have previously toured several continents and shared stages with Pearl Jam, Editors, The Maccabees, Frightened Rabbit, Broken Social Scene and The Hold Steady, a performance on Late Night with David Letterman and even an opening slot for Sir Paul McCartney.

TOUR DATES
18th Sept // Germany, Wiesbaden // Schlachthof **
19th Sept // Belgium, Antwerp // Trix Bar **
20th Sept // Netherlands, Amsterdam // Cinetol **
21st Sept // France, Paris //  Secret Show
23rd Sept // UK, Manchester // The Castle Hotel ^
24th Sept // UK, Glasgow // Venue TBA ^
25th Sept // Ireland, Dublin // Grand Social ^
27th Sept // UK, London // Omeara ^
3rd Oct // Oshawa, ON // Music Hall Concert Theatre 
4th Oct // Midland, ON // Midland Cultural Centre
5th Oct // St. Catharines, ON // Cicada Music & Arts Festival 
1st Nov // Toronto, ON // The Great Hall
2nd Nov + 3rd Nov // Burnstown, ON // Neat Café 
9th Nov // Underwater Sunshine Festival // NY, NY

** = Support from Cascade Lakes
^ = Support from FISKUR

Buy tickets here

“Free Fall” / “Fading Out” artwork by Hayden Menzies
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