"Ambient Zen Americana" - Mojo Magazine

Tony Dekker, the singer/songwriter behind the musical project Great Lake Swimmers, released his third full-length album "Ongiara" in 2007. Like the first two critically acclaimed albums ("Great Lake Swimmers" in 2003, and "Bodies and Minds" in 2005), "Ongiara" continues to explore the worlds of indie folk, roots music and alt-country pop, with a focus on lyrics and the craft of songwriting. The new record is permeated with a rich natural reverb, courtesy of London, Ontario's Aeolian Hall, which creates the magical background on which the songs are painted.

These ten new songs are largely inspired by Canada's majestic natural environment ("Your Rocky Spine") and our reciprocal relationship with the land ("Put There By The Land"). "Where In The World Are You", "Passenger Song" and "Changing Colours" touch on themes of grace and understanding in life journeys, and the latter reflects on the cycle of living and dying. "There Is A Light" is a love song thinly veiled as a protest anthem, and similarly, "I Am Part Of A Large Family" contains a message of peace. Album closer "I Became Awake" is a country-infused lullaby which speaks to revelation and self-realization.

Great Lake Swimmers have toured extensively in Canada, the United States, Europe and Australia since 2004, and has shared the stage with musical acts as diverse as Feist, Andrew Bird, Vashti Bunyan, Final Fantasy, Akron/Family, Jon-Rae Fletcher, Album Leaf, Crooked Fingers, Jason Collett, Amy Millan, and Joel Plaskett Emergency. The songs of Great Lake Swimmers have appeared on numerous compilations alongside such artists as Sufjan Stevens, Hot Chip, Broken Social Scene, Junior Boys, Mark Kozelek, Hayden, Beulah, Joss Stone, Hawksley Workman, Montag, Rheostatics, Tobin Sprout, Richard Buckner, and The Shins.

Great Lake Swimmers have been compared to Nick Drake, Iron and Wine, Red House Painters, and "After the Gold Rush"-era Neil Young. They were awarded the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's Galaxie Rising Star Award in March 2005 and were voted Favourite Folk/Roots Artist at the 2004 Canadian Independent Music Awards.