Tony Dekker speaks about the inspiration and process for new album
Great Lake Swimmers’ 2018 album, The Waves, The Wake, is comparably different to past records. Singer-songwriter Tony Dekker wanted to challenge himself and chose to omit the acoustic guitar to focus more on his vocals. The result is a harmonious record that touches on past albums while adding a fresh curiosity to see what could be next. The record is compelling with its themes of society and nature intertwining and the yearning for humanity to connect with our progressive world more thoughtfully. Dekker spoke with The Ontarion about the record in a phone interview.
Laura Vautour: 2018 marks the 15th anniversary of your band. How would you describe the evolution of the band’s sound? More specifically, with your most recent album, The Waves, The Wake, and your choice to omit the acoustic guitar?
Tony Dekker: We were originally doing a kind of folk-inspired thing and I think that’s still what we are doing. But I felt we had brought our sound to a certain point and I wanted to try and find a way to do something a little different. My way of doing that was to try to write and record songs without using the acoustic guitar, which was my main instrument. I found that was really effective in opening up avenues for other collaborations. With the new album, we have progressed to a more minimal sound, but also one that has a wider palette of acoustic instruments. [Instruments] like harp, pipe organ — and marimba is another big one — we have incorporated all of those into our sound. It’s opened things up for me musically; it’s got my mind thinking in a different way.
LV: You mentioned in your CBC interview in August that it was a challenge to push yourself to focus solely on your vocals. What are some challenges you and the band have experienced while redefining your sound?
TD: I feel like with this album we are turning a corner and I think there is still room to go even deeper and further out. It’s a good challenge, you know? And I’m enjoying it. There’s still lots of ground to cover. It’s a challenge in one way, but it’s great, because I can really focus in on one thing when I’m just singing, rather than trying to play a guitar competently as well as sing.
LV: Right, so, maybe you’re focusing more on your vocal range?
TD: Yeah, I guess so. It’s not really the range, but it’s more the feel you know? I can get into the songs a bit more and I’m really enjoying that aspect of it.
LV: Your upcoming show in Guelph is at the Royal City Evangelical Church, a fitting spot for this new album considering where you recorded in London, Ont. at the Bishop Cronyn Memorial Church. What other exciting venues have you played, and what were your favourites?
TD: Oh, I don’t know, we have played so many venues over the years. Everywhere from The Molson Canadian Amphitheatre [now called Budweiser Stage] to Massey Hall. Massey Hall was a really great one we played a couple years back for the first time. It was such a wonderful acoustic space and a great show for us. You know, I love playing venues, especially across Canada. For example, the Aeolian Hall in London, Ont. is another great acoustic venue. They [run events and programs for] the Bishop Cronyn Memorial Church where we will be playing on this tour and where we recorded the album. That’s a really special acoustic space. There are almost too many to mention, but churches are special places because they are designed for acoustics and for sound to travel in a certain way. They have all this really great energy, because it’s where people go to celebrate things, and also to mourn.
LV: Yes, I agree. They are sacred in a way. Your lyrics often speak of nature and how you find refuge within. What is your writing process like? Are the songs a collaborative effort?
TD: The songwriting process for me is a pretty solitary thing. On previous records, where we were like, “Okay, these are the five people that play in this group right now” — that line of thinking changed with every record. For this one especially, there wasn’t necessarily a regular backing band. It was more like I called on people within the Toronto music community to collaborate with. I feel like the music scene in Toronto was more or less the backing band on this record. I didn’t want to do another album where I was like, “Alright, guitar, bass, and drums — and add some strings.” I felt like we had done that and I wanted to do something different.
Especially for this [album], but for all of the albums, I should say, I go off on my own and come up with something that I think is worth sharing — or I look through my notes and find things that seem to be unified on the same theme and I bring them together. Songwriting has [two basic elements] both [instrumental and compositional] and it is much different than writing poetry, for example, which doesn’t always work in music. For this album, I was spending a little bit more time at the keyboard and not relying so heavily on the acoustic guitar. [Experimenting with] some other instruments like mandolin, ukulele, some other string instruments that I have — an autoharp — things like that. Then once that’s all done, I bring them to the musicians that I want to work with, not necessarily the band, and we collaborate on them from there, and I have a general idea of where I would like it to go. We just play with it and see what happens. There is a sort of magic in that — in that collaborative sphere.
LV: Other than nature, what other inspirations do you have?
TD: In writing that is a big one for me, especially in songwriting. I feel like in today’s society, we are more connected than we ever have been in history, but at the same time it feels like we are more disconnected. I think that part of that idea was creeping into what I was writing on the new album. We are connected by social media.
There is this connectivity that is firing constantly between all of us, but at the same time, it feels like we are removed from each other because of that. It’s a little bit of a paradox, or maybe irony is the right word. I really feel like we could all stand to reconnect with each other in different ways that don’t involve technology.
To give you an example, a few months ago we were in New York City doing some promo date. Three of us were doing a session very close to Times Square, and I thought, “Let’s go take a walk.” So, we walked around the corner and went through Times Square and it became so apparent to me that everyone was staring at their phones. I would look into a restaurant and there would be a couple sitting across from each other, waiting for their food, and both of them were just staring down at their phones, not talking to each other. I think part of this was creeping into what I was saying on the album. I don’t have the answer, it’s just more an observation. Something feels kind of off about it.
LV: The first track on this album, “The Talking Wind,” has this relationship between the lyrics and the woodwind instruments. It’s a beautiful collaboration between the two. What are your top three favourite songs that you have written and performed throughout your career? Why is that?
TD: That is a tough one. I really like, “The Real Work” off of the new album because I think it is a good example of how we took away more than we added. With [“The Real Work”] it seemed like the more we started to take away, the more powerful it became. I also felt that way about the song “Visions of a Different World,” which is also on the new album. Those two songs in particular have taken on a really special meaning and they are among my favourites. There is a song from the first Great Lake Swimmers’ album that came out in 2003, called “Moving Pictures, Silent Films,” that people really respond to and they still do all this time later. It creeps into our set now and then; it has a pretty regular place in our lives. It’s one of those songs that has stuck with us throughout the years, so that’s going to be my third pick.
LV: Who inspired you to pick up a pen and the guitar?
TD: I played in bands when I was in high school, so there was that kind of garage and art rock kind of band. When I really started taking songwriting seriously, the high-water mark for me is Leonard Cohen. Especially as a Canadian songwriter, him putting beautiful lyrics over acoustic music was a big inspiration.
LV: What is the most memorable concert you have attended?
TD: I saw Leonard Cohen a few times on his last tour and that was amazing. I don’t want to say Leonard Cohen again for an answer, but I’m going to have to go with him again.
LV: You earned your degree in literature at Western University before entering the music scene in Toronto. What would be your advice for upcoming artists who are students or recent graduates?
TD: I think the best advice is to not get into the music industry if you can help it. It sucks. Beyond that, if you really feel that you have some reason to make music and are crazy enough to try and embrace it then I would say, the focus really has to be on the art and the songs and the music. For me anyway, it is about the music first and the art of listening, and it’s about making good art to share with people; making sure that you really have something to say and digging deep. Then it may be worth your while in the end.
Great Lake Swimmers perform at the Royal City Church in Guelph on Thursday, Nov. 22.
Story by Laura Vautour
Photo courtesy of Gaëlle Legrand/Killbeat Music