Great Lake Swimmers
An Interview with Tony Dekker
“Is gravity the same for you … like unison falling into harmony?” If it is then you have much in common with Great Lake Swimmers front man Tony Dekker. Our introduction to Tony’s interview is one of “ifs.” If you want to hear what it feels like to stand along the St. Lawrence Riverbank; if your love for life’s tradition stands in tension with the ever increasing swath of cultural mediums; if you want to experience an intimate melodic collaboration of musicians who understand the value of space within song; if “feeling” is missing in your favorite iTunes playlist; if you are “saving up your tears for the next time it rains” … if any of these, then you need to do two things. Read this interview and purchase the Great Lake Swimmers album Lost Channels.
TDS: You have recorded music in an old grain silo, community halls, an old church and other non-typical locations. How have these environments affected the recording and creative process?
DEKKER: I have found that, for me, recording in special environments is a huge part of the creative process as it relates to shaping an album. You sort of deliver the songs differently when you record in these special places. Certain places are charged with a certain type of energy.
I first started recording in unusual places purely for sonic purposes: for the reverb quality, the acoustics, and everything. To me there is a difference between a real sounding natural reverb in a room compared to a computer generated one. At first it was important to me to get these acoustics down in a special place. But as I have gone through the process I’ve realized you are also documenting a place and there is an environmental layer of sound that is added to the recordings. These unusual spaces also allow me to perform a little differently. They allow me to reach a little deeper knowing that I am filling up this space.
TDS: Do you draw inspiration when writing from varied and unusual locations?
DEKKER: I try to write all the time. It is an ongoing process for me wherever I am. I do feel, though, most inspired when I get into a natural setting, natural surroundings—in a really quiet space and quiet frame of mind. This helps me to reflect on environments I have been in and inspires me to write.
TDS: How has your songwriting and music progressed over the last several years?
DEKKER: I think with the new album I have been trying to use the medium of the song a little bit more and trying to be more concise in the writing. I’m trying to use the three or four minute song as a way to condense a larger idea into a shorter amount of time and use that limited space to expound on a bigger idea.
In the back of my head, for this record, I had been listening to the Carter Family a lot, their early recordings in the late 1920s and early 1930s. They literally only had three minutes to get their point across so they had to say what they wanted to say in that amount of time. This concept was in my head as a standard, a guideline, a limitation or something to put on the songwriting to make sure I was being as concise as possible.
TDS: Your music and voice has been described as simultaneously lonely and hopeful. How do you manage to balance the sometimes sad and lonely realities of what you see and experience with hope for what might be? How do you manage to both be lonely and hopeful?
DEKKER: I am not sure exactly where or why that combination happens. I guess in the sad and lonely songs I am just able to sing them better or something—they just come out that way. I think, at the same time, I do like to think there is hopefulness in it too; I am just not sure why that combination happens in that particular way.
TDS: What is the meaning behind the title of your new album, Lost Channels?
DEKKER: We recorded the album in a section near the St. Lawrence River; on the Ontario and New York state sides of the river. We connected with a local historian from the region and he pointed us in the right direction towards some interesting spaces that we could record in. He also relayed a lot of interesting stories about the region while we were there. One of them was the story of this lost channel where there were some ships and crewmembers that had disappeared in the late 1700s, I think. It was a fascinating story and it seemed to encapsulate the idea of recording in that area too. So we used Lost Channels as a reference to this lost channel, as it’s called, in the St. Lawrence River.
As I think about the title more and the different levels of meaning, it kind of refers to a lost way of doing things or these sort of dying arts that we are experiencing these days.
TDS: Listening back to the album now, after completion, are there any unintended themes that developed?
DEKKER: I think definitely there is the thread of this river imagery that was running through it. Especially towards the later part of the recording once we were there. There was still a few songs being written and this theme of the river flows a little bit through those songs.
There’s also a sense of time: time past, the future, the passage of time in general, I think, is something that ran through the album. Not that I wanted to conceptualize anything or work towards an overlying theme, that wasn’t the point. To me it is another collection of songs. But, once you start to look at them in retrospect, you can see that “Oh yeah,” there are these sort of similarities in theme that pop up here and there.
TDS: Does your song writing come from a personal place or is it mostly fictional?
DEKKER: It is more a representation of an idea. It is not confessional personal songwriting. Sometimes the “I” in the song has to not be me personally, but a representation of a person. I don’t consider it personal or confessional songwriting; it is more for the sake of narrative. It is easier to embody a character than write in the third person.
TDS: So, in “She Comes To Me In Dreams,” this is not so much about a dream you had but about an idea you had.
DEKKER: Well, yes and no. That song in particular is about the idea of having someone coming to visit in a dream and it is sort of this abstract form of communication.
TDS: How does that tie into the first track on Lost Channels, “Palmistry”? Is it another form of abstract communication? Or are they related?
DEKKER: It is unrelated to me. “Palmistry” is a little bit more narrative because it basically tells the story of someone seeking advice from a palm reader in order to find something to hang on to that will provide some information about a better future for them.
TDS: In the song “Still,” you also talk about things that will be better or that are waiting to happen. Is there a connection or was there something you were hoping for when you wrote that?
DEKKER: I think with that song, it is more about the idea of perseverance and trying to tenaciously find some sort of enlightenment despite some pretty great obstacles, especially in the world around us right now. Obstacles and distractions I suppose. To me it is more about a tenacious type of persistence to become enlightened.
TDS: What do you hope the listener takes away from your music?
DEKKER: I guess I would hope that there is some kind of spiritual aspect to it—at least that some sort of feeling is evoked, be it an abstract feeling or a very direct feeling about something. I want people to walk away somehow being moved by a type of music that I hope is a little bit at odds with the sort of disposable nature of our musical culture right now. I hope they take away something that is a feeling or something that sticks with them a little bit longer than the two minutes that the song is playing.
TDS: Do you think the genre, or style, of music helps with that?
DEKKER: Definitely. I don’t feel that we are making folks songs in the folk tradition exactly. But I think we are definitely drawing on a traditional style that is infused with a new kind of spirit—this independent, DIY spirit that infuses these old traditions, which we have a great respect for.
TDS: You mention the disposable nature of things, specifically music. That is, you can download a song and then delete it whenever you want. There is nothing you actually touch. Do you think your music speaks against that?
DEKKER: Well, to a certain extent. It is necessary to be a part of it too and I understand the economic nature of the whole thing. I am not sure that the actual experience of a record is improved by technology. But, I have an iPod and iTunes and everything and am totally a part of that. It makes a lot of sense to me because I love that I can carry around 8,000 of my favorite songs wherever I go. I really like that aspect of it.
But in terms of really, truly experiencing a record I would much prefer to put on a vinyl record and experience the music in that way; with artwork and with something tactile and to have a real audio experience. I mean, they are getting better in terms of quality but there is still a little bit of a disconnect.
That being said, on the subject of a disposable culture, there is that aspect to it. There is this generation of music and art and photographs that are just zeros and ones essentially, just binary code. I am a little bit worried that all of this stuff is going to be lost because it doesn’t actually exist [laughs].
TDS: So is there a balance then? For example, I can buy your album on vinyl but then get the code for the MP3 download so I can carry it with me.
DEKKER: Yeah, which I think is great. For me, the portability of the MP3 is awesome and I love that aspect to it. But for a real, true music listening experience I like putting on a vinyl record.
TDS: You have a tour coming up and the new record, anything else going on?
There are a few collaborations with some friends that I am looking at in a one-off capacity, helping them out on songs. I am writing and recording a few songs for some compilations as well. There is one here in Toronto called Friends in Bellwoods that is coming up soon that I am writing and recording a song for.
Primarily we are focused on this tour coming up. It is a full North American tour in March and April. That is the next big thing. We will be touring with our friend Kate Maki and her band. They will be supporting us for all of the North American dates.
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