Tom Thomson

On July 8th 2017, Paul Walde swam the length of Canoe Lake in Algonquin Park on the 100th anniversary of Canadian painter Tom Thomson’s death. The swim, a site-specific and temporally specific event, was used as an opportunity for exploring and understanding this landscape and history through performative experience. The swim was accompanied by a flotilla of canoes carrying a brass band with a mandolin soloist performing a new music composition by Walde, who encounter three synchronized swimming routines at various points along the route. Audio and video footage from the event was used as the basis of a sound and video installation of the same name. This soundtrack features recordings from the performance, combined with additional studio recordings, binaural audio from the swimmer’s perspective, field recordings of the site, and a mysterious hydrophonic recording made at the bottom of the Canoe Lake the same evening. To listen or purchase click here