Going for a dip...

...with the Great Lake Swimmers. This is a great outfit out of Ontario; it's mellow, mid-tempo acoustic music, with great melodies by frontman Tony Dekker. It's got a sparse/spare feeling to the arrangements, but the atmosphere of their music is what a lot of people pick out. Talks of recording in grain solos and ancient castles will do that.

There's great pop sensibility to the tracks, and even some folk (banjo anyone?) creeps its way into the music. Dekker's delivery has a tone of seriousness to it, but it can't help mask the sadness that seems to come from his voice. It's endearing and draws you in in a way.

From their latest release, Lost Channels:

Pulling On A Line - Great Lake Swimmers

And from the earlier Ongiara:

Your Rocky Spine - Great Lake Swimmers

And if you just can't get enough of them, here's the Great Lake Swimmers in a podcast session for CBC's Radio3 (a great source for alternative Canadian music by the way):

CBC Radio 3 Session (mp3 link)