Don't Swim To Close is the eighth album that Brooklyn based Ben Crum has released as Great Lakes not to be confused with Great Lake swimmers or any other bands called Great Lakes, they are very much not a dungeon synth band. The rest of the band are Kevin Shea, Kyle Forester, Sam Cohen, James Richardson, David Gould, San Fadyl and Suzanne Nienaber.
The A-side opens with Another Klaxon Starts a gently whispered fey indie song for easing down that lazy river, hearing the train's Klaxon signalling its departure from town. On The Way back has psyched up guitars for that trip back to the old stomping ground, thinking about what you'd put in your next novel abut the adventures you once had.
Carry The Message don't give up, don't give in, find a way to defeat the evil forces closing in on you, trying to look away from all the catastrophic news you are drowning in, gentle indie guitars claiming they have nothing left to say, how can that be in times like these. Just listen to the magical guitars and dream of better times than these.
Like An Open Grave is a song for Ben's recently departed dad gone on his final journey, he has dreams and regrets to live with, for the heartache and despair he feels while sounding like the most plaintive of Green On Red songs, acknowledging that the great American lifestyle is a total sham, he wants to ride his skateboard across the astral plain without going insane.
Don't Swim Too Close is the refrain of lap swimmers the world over, get out of my lane and leave me alone, he really wants to be left in peace to sound as much like Nilsson as he can, the laid back country guitars make clear he wants you to leave him to drown by himself, everything has become overwhelming.
San's Blues juxtaposes a windswept guitar part with a smoky late night piano part, like a couple of gunslingers have stopped for a glass or two of whiskey before it all goes down.
The B-Side opens with Seeing Through Her the truth has been revealed and reality is staring Ben in the face on this cool laid back country love gone wrong song. The Freer Heart is what he hopes he will have once the dust settles and the piano drives thing along to a better place.
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Meant to Fly meant to get out of the land people still call America, he no longer feels a part of it, dreaming of crossing the man made border into Canada, hoping to hear stories of a better more peaceful place to be, where sounding like Little Feat is considered a good thing, while taking us on a tour of some of the more quixotically named US towns that you'd want to get the hell out of.
Song For The Old Man is a tearjerker full of memoires for his dad and what he meant to him, good, bad, ugly and full of love and wisdom passed down through the ages. Forgive each other your trespasses and try to live fulfilled lives, like his dad did. How does it makes him feel, that one day his kids will walk on his dad's grave.
Ohm has some Fender Rhodes style organ and sweetly picked guitar to meditate on, sit and focus on the lava lamp and oil wheel and find some peace among the ruins. The album closes with Are We Here Accidentally? Well, some of us for sure are, the choral hymnal quality of this song asking questions about how random our existence is.
Find out more at https://www.hhbtm.com/product/great-lakes-dont-swim-too-close/ https://greatlakesbencrum.bandcamp.com/album/dont-swim-too-close https://www.facebook.com/bandgreatlakes
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