Ongiara
Great Lake Swimmers
Score:77
Reviewer: Justin Pearsall
Label: Nettwerk (USA & UK), Speak 'n' Spell (Australia)
Reviewed: Aug 13th '07, Released:2007
While iTunes labels it ‘country’, the new Great Lake Swimmers album, Ongiara, is more appropriately labelled ‘slo-fi’. The newest GLS record continues singer-songwriter (and band leader) Tony Dekker’s love affair with After The Gold Rush-styled folk, the Canadian three-piece having further ingrained themselves in light-and-lush country balladry. The result is a consolidation that confirms their status among the best of indie’s easy-listening parade, but fails to make inroads into challenging this very label.
Less diverse than both their self-titled debut and Bodies and Minds – an album greatly spirited by the emotion-filled title track – Ongiara’s progression is its rigid mood, which dominates from the opening seconds to the dying note. For most the one-tracked tempo and droning ambience will be the definitive factor on whether or not you enjoy the third effort from GLS, as musically this is an album for Sunday housekeeping - opening the windows and exhaling a long, deep breathe.
Album opener ‘Your Rocky Spine’s banjo-led meandering provides a framework for the album to follow. Dekker’s voice and the lithe female harmonies suit the gentle accompaniment. While subtleties do reveal themselves with further listens (see ‘Catcher Songs’ military-styled snare rolls, ‘Changing Colours’ waltz-rock conclusion and the aggressive overdriven guitars on ‘Put There By The Land’), the homogeneity of Ongiara is saved by its expertly craftsmanship. Whether it be the rolling banjo that dominates much of the record, the delicate infusions of strings and organs, the homely detail of Dekker’s lyricism, every inch of Ongiara is precise.
While I still believe that Ongiara would have benefited from the inclusion of a soaring track in the spirit of ‘Bodies and Mind’, and sometimes Dekker’s Neil Young homage veers ominously close to cloning (take for example the first notes of ‘Passenger’s melody and compare this with Young’s ‘A Man Needs A Maid’ from Harvest), overall GLS’ third album is a clear and definite winner; an enjoyable lilt through a pastoral environment, readymade for lazy afternoon listening.
