Great Lakes

It has been a minute since I've posted on an Elephant 6 band. Firstly, Great Lakes counts among Elephant 6 collective in my opinion due a few factors: Robert Schneider mixed their debut, member James Higgins formerly played in Of Montreal, and that two albums were put out on the successor label, Orange Twin. Perhaps those are tangential affiliations, but the group has certainly established itself firmly with a decade of producing records. Not anywhere near as prolific as Of Montreal, instead Great Lakes seems to pace themselves and have consistently released quality albums. The band was started by Dan Donahue and Ben Crum, the latter of which still leads the band and serves as the main constant around which other membership rotates. Their self-titled debut remains one of my favorites and best composed of the psychedelic pop from the collective in that era. I don't want to get too long-winded here, so the earlier albums are the sort of thing that should be gotten by fans of other E6 groups like The Essex Green, The Gerbils or Apples in Stereo and other contemporaries like Princeton Reverbs Colonial and Shimmer Kids Underpop Association. The latest release, Ways of Escape, does try something different after four years without an LP. It features too many appearances by other indie rock musicians for me to list them here and has a more twangy sound that reminded me of alt country acts like Royal City. Excellent shift that makes me happy that Crum keeps on making music.

To be had here:





Great Lakes (2000) [192 kbps]











The Distance Between (2002) [192 kbps]










Diamond Times (2006) [224 kbps]












Ways of Escape (2010) [160 kbps]