Summary: Great Lake Swimmers Live show reviews "Making good use of the quiet vibe and the audience's rapt attention, a slightly anxious-looking Dekker (dressed in a jacket and tie) went for the soft sell, too, opting for a slow, steady build that showcased his lofty voice and gave his backing band a chance to shine..." - Jered Stuffco, "Quiet riot", review of Toronto CD release show, NOW Toronto, 7 April 2005 (link to complete review). "They had the cover story in this week’s edition of local alternative paper eye, so the room was packed. But they’ve developed enough of a following that it might’ve been packed anyway. All of the guys onstage look like they might have been recently released from some sort of institution, which is to say painfully shy, a little off-kilter and completely internal. None more so than frontman Tony Dekker, whose energy is akin to that of Tony Perkins/David Byrne/Charlie Salmon, and who physically is wearing Sarah Harmer’s face on Don Kerr’s body. The Swimmers play thoughtful, quietly beautiful and entirely original music about heartbreak and transcendence. At one point, in 'I Will Never See The Sun,' Dekker charmingly rhymes off subway stops along the Bloor line in Toronto, in their actual order. Their rear-projected films of flowers, clouds and insects added to the vibe as well. Captivating, mesmerizing stuff. 9/10" - Howard Druckman, UmbrellaMusic.com, 10 March 2005 (re. 4 March, El Mocambo, CMW 2005) "Displaying some Nick Drake soul, Dekker and his players managed to combine naked and intimate songs with some catchy pop-rock — and rocking with banjo, wurlitzer and Sandro "Polmo Polpo" Perri on lap steel, no less. And in the middle of this fragile heart-pouring, mostly from the new Swimmers album Bodies And Minds, is a song that has "Toronto classic" written all over it..." - Brian Wong, ChartAttack.com, 5 March 2005 (re. 5 March CMW show at El Mocambo) Samantha Grice, "Songs for Swimming Upstream," National Post, 12 June 2003, re. NXNE 2003. Click here to read "How fitting, my last show of NXNE quite easily turned out to be the best surprise of the festival. Great Lake Swimmers' Tony Dekker sang intimate - instantly relatable songs offering the crowd a direct window into his world. Dekker's amazingly delicate and truthful voice was reminiscent of a Nick Drake at his most revealing - with a shy Elliot Smith style of delivery. Adding to the stunning vocals was the subtle layering of bass, drums, lap steel guitar and the accordion, complimenting each other perfectly in the creation of the bands folk, folk-country sound. The reception of the crowd after the GLS's set was so overwhelmingly positive that the band was allowed an encore - extremely rare for the strictly timed festival. GLS definitely ended the evening - and NXNE on a high note. " - Jeff Cann, Spill magazine, re. NXNE 2003 *http://www.weewerk.com/greatlakeswimmers.html
