Five untenable years, one full length debut album, and over 25 live performances after Kate Rossiter, Steven Luscher, Kyle Sulyma, Bryan Chiu, and Paul Teehan made their first sound, Lakefield is back to write their final chapter, pull up the covers, and blow out the light.
Lakefield is self-described as a cross between Death Cab For Cutie and Stars. But rather than try to categorize them as such, I decided to put on my earbuds and take a listen one rainy weekend evening to their latest release, Swan Songs.
A few adjectives come directly to mind between Kate Rossiter’s soothing voice and the rest of the Vancouver-based band, including Steven Luscher (guitar, vocals), Kyle Sulyma (bass), Bryan Chiu (guitar), and Paul Teehan (drums): deeply honest, personal, sweet, and playful.
Album opener and single “Good Guy” follows a broken heart’s journey into letting go, and then wonders what if things had been different (“you could’ve been mine”), to which Steven Luscher adds a powerful, complementary vocal to Kate’s lingering thought. “Hand Delivered” adds an uplifting continuation to that softly-spoken ode to love lost. The group is in full swing here, with additional vocals provided by Katie Lapi, Katey Hill, Natalie Vermeer, Annie Seagram, Adam Sharp, and Sarah Sangster. Upon repeated listens, I sensed their chemistry, both as friends and as fellow musicians.
“Cupid” is a complementary follower to “Hand Delivered” in tempo and mood. Kate Rossiter’s voice is just lovely to listen to and would fit right in on local Vancouver indie station PEAK FM’s playlist.
A comical, personal “Interlude” sets up the next two songs, “Don’t Waste Time” and “Your Conviction is Sweet”. “Don’t Waste Time” has a nice build-up to drive the song’s title message home, with a little help from their friends mentioned above. “Your Conviction is Sweet” is a poppy, light-hearted tune showing off Steve and Kate’s melodic talent. Of all the songs, “Good Guy” stands out as the wisely-chosen single and happens to be my favourite song on the yet-to-be-released album, one that will have you humming after first listen.
“A stone’s throw from where Swan Songs was made, mute swans swim around downtown’s Lost Lagoon in Stanley Park. They are beautiful, but hindered. They can not fly, nor migrate, because their wing tendons have been clipped. Like them, Lakefield will never take flight again. With love, they leave you these, their exuberant Swan Songs.”
According to the band, Swan Songs is a perfect portrait of the band at its very end — a blood promise between five friends to deliver one final, wholehearted performance. I’m hoping they’ll reconsider the finality of that promise.
Lakefield distributes their music via iTunes, Spotify, and Rdio. Listeners can now pre-order “Swan Songs” by visiting Lakefield’s website.
As a bonus, my readers can download the single, “Good Guy”, for free by clicking here.
