The Drought Is Over

I went to a show last night, after six dry weeks without live music. FBB (favorite blog buddy) Scrivener and I caught Great Lake Swimmers at The Earl last night. It was a damn good show.

Not familiar with Great Lake Swimmers? I wasn’t, either, until Scrivener mentioned them. I checked ‘em out on eMusic and liked the band immediately.

If you’re addicted to MP3s like I am and you don’t have a subscription to eMusic.com, you’re doing yourself a disservice. I get 90 downloads for $19.95 per month (although I think those signing up now get 75 each month). eMusic doesn’t have your Bruce Springsteens or Justin Timberlakes, but it’s a great spot for discovering new bands. That’s where I first heard The Decemberists, The New Pornographers and Neko Case, Iron & Wine, Beulah, The Pipettes, Of Montreal, and many more indie bands. eMusic has great selections in most genres. Try it today — and tell ‘em I sent you.

Great Lake Swimmers, from Toronto, remind me a bit of Sufjan Stevens, more so Iron & Wine. Tony Dekker has the most sublime voice, a voice that hooked me with the first listen of the first song, a voice like cool summer evenings under the trees. (Too corny? Okay, yeah. But it does.)

Great Lake Swimmers' Tony Dekker,
playing at The Earl last night
Shot by Scrivener, using my camera

One of the cool things about Great Lake Swimmers is they have a banjo player … but it doesn’t sound like a banjo, not in the traditional sense. It’s almost as if the banjo is played like a rhythm guitar.

Dekker was a bit shy on stage, but I was charmed by his song introductions, such as “This is ‘I Am Part of a Large Family,’ about being part of a large family.”

• GreatLakeSwimmers_IAmPartofaLargeFamily.mp3

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