Great Lake Swimmer covers Neil Diamond, scores doc :: Music News :: Articles

Tony Dekker of the Toronto folk band Great Lake Swimmers has just finished his first movie score. His compositions will appear in the Greg Kohs documentary Song Sung Blue, which follows the love story and career of Mike and Claire Sardina, the Milwaukee husband and wife comprising Neil Diamond tribute singing act Lightning & Thunder. Song Sung Blue premiers Jan. 20 at the Slamdance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. Not only does Dekker get to write the score, he also covers the chart-topping 1972 Diamond track "Song Sung Blue" for the closing credits.

Greg Kohs, the film's director and producer, is a 10-time Emmy Award-winner. It's the full-length feature film debut for Kohs, who currently produces TV commercials internationally. Song Sung Blue draws from over eight years of material and will compete with nine other documentaries at the festival. "The honesty and emotional warmth of Tony's music provides an intimate texture to the film's 'captured not contrived' style of storytelling," Kohs said about Dekker's score in a statement.

To celebrate the film's premiere, Dekker will give a free acoustic performance at Cicero's in Park City on Jan. 23. He'll be joined on stage by one of the film's stars, Claire Sardina (Thunder), in the first live show she's done in over a year.

Dekker, the principal songwriter for Great Lake Swimmers, is no stranger to creating ambient soundscapes with drama or location as inspiration. It's just this experience that he used to provide a backdrop for the struggles and triumphs portrayed in Song Sung Blue.

Great Lake Swimmers released their third full-length album, Ongiara, in 2007 on Netwerk Records. It was the follow-up to 2005's Bodies and Minds and their self-titled debut in 2003. The band also released a free live EP in 2007. After spending much of the past year touring, the Swimmers most recently supported Feist on some of her Canadian tour stops in December.

Stream two of Dekker's tracks from Song Sung Blue: