Great Lakes – “Carry The Message”

Always love a local around here and the next album up from Red Hook’s Great Lakes is shaping up to be one of their best. The latest single burns with a late night intensity, the kind that keeps your eyes open on long drives down winding Upstate roads. Penned as an ode to the late, and sorely missed David Berman, the track uses the songwriter’s last words as central theme, carrying on the message, despite pain and loss. Laced with piano from Kevin Forester and guitar from James Richardson, the song radiates a fitting intensity that seeks to heal the human-sized hole in all our hearts.

The band’s Ben Crum, gives some context to how the track came to life,”The lyrics came on a day when I’d gone to a Christmas party at Kyle Forester’s house in Kingston. We sang carols around the piano. I remember singing “Blue Christmas,” but the singalong to Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” was the highlight. That same morning Creem had published an article about Berman’s final days. Jeremy Earl, who co-produced the Purple Mountains record, was at the party, and we talked about the piece. We were both struck by the poignancy of Berman’s parting phrase: “carry the message.” I went home and wrote from a fictionalized perspective, trying to imagine what Berman might have been feeling.” The band’s latest record, Don’t Swim Too Close, is out November 7th from Happy Happy Birthday To Me / Elephant 6.