Canadian indie-folk maestros – GREAT LAKE SWIMMERS – return with new live shows, plus plans for the release of their new album ‘Caught Light’ in the UK this Spring.

Featuring a blend of acoustic instruments, rural soundscapes, and wistful vocals, Great Lake Swimmers are the critically acclaimed group led by Tony Dekker. Based in Southern Ontario, they emerged in the early 2000s with a succession of heavily atmospheric albums recorded in old silos and rural country churches. The music developed in that pastoral warmth, performed and recorded in acoustically resonant and historical locales with a revolving cast of personnel. They are renowned for homespun folk and lush, intimate Americana in their live shows.

In 2026, they will return to the UK with their newest album, ‘Caught Light’ in April, plus a clutch of live dates in May (see below for details).

‘Caught Light’ is their most immediate and instinctive album to date. Recorded in just five days in Ontario’s Ganaraska Forest with producer Darcy Yates (Bahamas) and engineer Jimmy Bowskill (Blue Rodeo), it draws warmth from early ’70s folk-pop while embracing a new spontaneity and directness in Dekker’s songwriting.

Great Lake Swimmers have been shortlisted for the prestigious Polaris Music Prize and nominated twice for Canada’s Juno Awards, with the CBC calling them “a national treasure.”

Part of a wider European Tour, their UK dates are as follows:

GREAT LAKE SWIMMERS – UK TOUR DATES
May 6 – Brighton, UK – The Hope & Ruin – 67/150
May 7 – Bristol, UK – Exchange 92/230
May 8 – Glasgow, UK – Exchange – 56/140
May 9 – Manchester, UK – Yes (Basement) – 62/110
May 10 – London, UK – 100 Club – 126/290

Tickets on sale here: https://greatlakeswimmers.com/