Brooklyn based folk band Great Lakes have been through countless line-up changes, with singer and guitar player Ben Crum as a constant. Nearly six yeas have gone by since the release of their last full-length Ways of Escape. They did release two singles, but things were awfully quiet.
Crum has overcome the composing drought and has come up with nice stack of fresh tunes for the new album Wild Vision and for once the bulk of the musicians of the last album is still there. Crum hails from Athens, GA and that explains why the nods to Americana and college rock the plentiful - those two genres that have been in force down there since the early Eighties.
Anger has made way for melancholy. Crum has found peace and even when shit happens, he shrugs and doesn't lash out in his lyrics. The only things that still runs wild is his imagination and his words have gained depth. He will be a true poet on the next one.
Great Lakes:
Ben Crum: guitars and vocals
Suzanne Nienaber: vocals
Dave Lerner: bass
Kevin Shea: drums
Joe McGinty: keyboards
Phil Sterk: pedal steel
Heather McIntosh: cello
Kenny Wachtel: guitar on "Kin to the Mountain" and "Beauties of the Way"
Dave Gould: synth on "Wild Again"
Steve Silverstein: wind synth on "Blood On My Tooth"
Wild Vision will be released on vinyl (limited edition of 327 copies) via Loose Trucks Records. Release date: January 22nd.
Tracks:- Swim The River
- Bird Flying
- Kin To The Mountain
- Wild Again
- Nature Is Always True
- I Stay, You Go
- Beauties Of The Way
- Blood On My Tooth
- Shot At And Missed
- 01/22 Brooklyn NY @ The Rock Shop (album release show)
HCTF review of Ways of Escape.
