Photos: Great Lakes to Release FEAR OF THE FEAR Album, Share New Video
The Ben Crum-led project recorded much of the LP in Memphis with longtime collaborators Kevin Shea and Suzanne Nienaber.
GREAT LAKES, the long-running recording project led by Ben Crum, has released a new single and video titled Fear of the Fear, alongside the announcement of a new album of the same name arriving on HHBTM Records. The clip marks the first official music video the band has produced.
Fear of the Fear comes out on August 21st on vinyl LP.
Crum described the new record as follows: 'Fear of the Fear is the 9th album by Great Lakes, my long-running band and recording project. I think of it as my Memphis Record, since the bulk of it was written and recorded there. Like 2022's Contenders, Fear of the Fear was mixed by Luis Leal. In fact, while thematically it is very different, aesthetically it could almost be considered Contenders II, even though 2025's Don't Swim Too Close came out in between. It features two musicians I've been working with for nearly 20 years, drummer Kevin Shea and vocalist Suzanne Nienaber. It also benefits from the contributions of two of my favorite go-to multi-instrumentalists, David Gould and Petter Folkedal. Some talented Memphis-based musicians grace the record, as well, including Leah Keys, Andrew Geraci, Seth Moody, and John Whittemoore. Finally, my old friends Kyle Forester and Steve Silverstein each play on a few songs.'
'Fear of the Fear is a collection of songs mostly about the death of my close friend, Ryan Trammel. As such, it deals thematically with loss and grief. A very personal album, it touches on feelings of anxiety, brokenness, and the role of the subconscious in our lives–be it subconscious memory or subconscious knowledge/wisdom ('there is a truth we have known without knowing it' is how I put it in the album opener). This is an idea I find especially potent. Maria Montessori wrote that as babies we are as smart as we are ever going to be. When I read that in one of her books, it immediately felt self-evident to me. As we age, of course we all also come to realize, and most of us all too well, that wisdom and knowledge are wholly different from intelligence. That's another theme of the record: 'you don't get smarter with age' is how I put it in one song.'
'For this record I intentionally challenged myself to write a batch of tunes without bridges. This was a limitation I put in place to force myself to be direct and plain. I didn't bother trying to write in one cohesive musical style. I let the songs come out naturally, and made no concerted effort to sound like my influences.'
'While all writers compete with their past selves and try to out-do their previous work, for me, with this record, that meant not just trying to come up with better songs, but also trying to wed words and melodies in ways that felt more natural, so that the songs get their points across as concisely and impactfully as possible'
'Another notable thing about this record is the way it is sequenced. The smallest, simplest, and maybe catchiest songs are at the beginning, and then the songs cycle through in such a way that they get longer and thematically heavier as the record goes on. I've never sequenced a record like this, but that's how it seemed to want to go together. For what it's worth, I like the pace, and the way it evolves as you listen to it.'
'The photo on the cover is one I took in 2001 of an illegal Israeli settlement under construction in Beit Jalal in the West Bank, Palestine. The image seemed to me to be appropriate to the overarching theme of these songs.'
Tour Dates
August 20th - Catskill, NY @ Avalon Lounge *
August 21st - Philadelphia, PA @ Kung Fu Necktie * #
August 22nd - Brooklyn, NY @ BazookaFest * #
* w/ Giant Day
# w/ Garment District
FEAR OF THE FEAR, the ninth album from GREAT LAKES, was largely written and recorded in Memphis and mixed by Luis Leal, who also worked on the band's 2022 release CONTENDERS. The record features longtime collaborators Kevin Shea and Suzanne Nienaber alongside multi-instrumentalists David Gould and Petter Folkedal, with additional contributions from Memphis-based musicians Leah Keys, Andrew Geraci, Seth Moody, and John Whittemoore, as well as Kyle Forester and Steve Silverstein.
