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Great Lake Swimmers Find Lost Channels Live in Vancouver
by Reg Seeton
 Thank God for artists like Kate Maki and bands like The Great Lake Swimmers. Just when you thought the roots of rock and roll, folk and country music were dying a lightning quick death at the choking hands of template Top 40 formula, including pop-country, along comes the truly talented songwriters and musicians of the world to keep things real. What I witnessed on March 30 in Vancouver when Kate Maki took to the UBC stage and handed the opening baton to Nettwerk Records headliners Great Lake Swimmers was something magical reminiscent of the "times they are a changin'" 1960s and the "Harvest" years of the 1970s. Since I was sitting in the largely all-college crowd, I wondered if anyone actually got the significance of the substance underneath the style and sound of the music before The Great Lake Swimmers hit the road to Seattle for their month long U.S. swing that soon propels them over to Europe.
In an age where pop divas and pop-punk bands are filling huge arenas, the folk and rock roots of Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Joni Mitchell, Woodie Guthrie, Neil Young, Pete Seeger, The Byrds, Fleetwood Mac, Gordon Lightfoot, Johnny Cash and June Carter, Waylon Jennings and more, are alive and well thanks to artists like Kate Maki and bands like The Great Lake Swimmers. Throw in a certain vocal similarity of Great Lake lead singer Tony Dekker to Coldpay's Chris Martin and there's something special going on in music evocative of the profound transition of acoustic-folk to electric rock-folk nearly 30 years ago.
 Inside a small theater on the UBC campus north of the 49th in Vancouver, the naturally beautiful Kate Maki walked on stage, sat down on a stool with her acoustic guitar, and addressed the audience. "I'm a teacher," Maki admitted to the crowd who, I'm willing to bet a rusty nickel, thought she was joking. In fact, prior to the release of her first three albums - Confusion Unlimited, The Sun Will Find Us, On High - Maki studied neuroscience (ironically, in my hometown at my rival U) before becoming a special education teacher. But like so many 9-5 academics, music couldn't keep Maki away from the stage where, in Vancouver, folk, rock, and country contemporary set the perfect vibe with such simple yet humanly significant songs as "To Please," "Blue Morning," "We Are Gone," and "White Noise," later backed by Great Lake Swimmer drummer Greg Millson and Maki members on accompanying piano and electric console steel guitar. The Great Lake Swimmers lined up the perfect opener who had the country swagger and sweet sincerity of Johnny Cash and June Carter combined, a vocal similarity to Mazzy Star, and the passion and potential of Sheryl Crowe.
But the night belonged to the cult popular The Great Lake Swimmers, who are out on tour in support of their March 31 release of their fourth wide release full-length album, Lost Channels, now six years removed from the band's self titled debut. If you haven't had the chance to check out Great Lake Swimmers, you're missing out on what feels like the early years of possible defining icons of their time and genre. Featuring a collective of five that includes Tony Dekker (lead vocals, acoustic guitar and harmonica), Julie Fader (keyboards and vocals), Erik Arneson (banjo, electric guitar), Greg Millson on drums, and Darcy Yates (stand-up bass), the Great Lake Swimmers can easily be classified as folk rock.
Interestingly, however, the musical influences within the Great Lake Swimmers sound make the music much richer, meaningful, and mature than the era they're living in. At times Tony Dekker embodies the greatness and presence of such legends as Neil Young, Bob Dylan, and Hank Williams with talents and similarities to Lindsey Buckingham (listen to new song "Still") and current indie folker Sufjan Stevens plus the songwriting prowess of the great Gordon Lightfoot. And if that's not enough of a multifaceted folk recipe, Great Lake Swimmers also have a Soggy Bottom Boys underbelly that makes them even more authentic in terms of folk roots. Yet you can also hear the early underground vibe of REM and the current emotional threads of Coldplay.
Still, it's not any of them at all. Great Lake Swimmers are completely unique on their own. I kid you not, no spinning around, there's raw and budding gold somewhere deep in the fathoms of those great lakes.
 The headlining festivities kicked off with tracks from the band's 2003 self-titled release, running down the debut to songs like "Moving Pictures, Silent Films" while later meandering back and forth between tracks from the 2005 Bodies and Minds, with the title track and on to "To Leave it Behind," and the 2007 album Ongiara, with the amazing "Your Rocky Spine," which also found its way to on to Season 3 of Weeds. But since Great Lake was swimming their hearts out in full folk effect for Lost Channels, the UBC college crowd got a major earful of almost the entire album, with such songs as "Concrete Heart," "She Comes to Me in Dreams," "Still," "Palmistry," and "Pulling on a Line" to name a few. And for those that may not keep score of these things at home, the true test of a talent is when a band continues to get better as they evolve and mature as artists, as they most certainly do on Lost Channels. When you listen to songs from Lost Channels, Dekker is maturing into a fantastic songwriter.
Winding down the show with the simple and beautiful "Song for the Angels" before returning for a brief but moving encore, the Great Lake Swimmers restored my faith in folk rock, which I was beginning to think didn't matter to anyone under 30. In an age filled with so much bling that it could feed a nation, Great Lake Swimmers are making music that matters most.
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