The Great Lakes Suite is the thirteenth album by the Canadian rock band Rheostatics, released November 21, 2025 on Cordova Bay Records.Alex Hudson, "Rheostatics Detail New Album Featuring Gord Downie, Alex Lifeson, Tanya Tagaq". Exclaim!, October 8, 2025.
The album was originally inspired by a desire to create another conceptual project comparable to the band's 1995 album Music Inspired by the Group of Seven, and began after Dave Bidini hit on the idea of a suite about the Great Lakes.Gary Graff, "Alex Lifeson on New Music With Rheostatics: ‘There Are No Rules or Expectations’". Billboard, November 21, 2025. Bidini also stated that given the current climate of political tensions between Canada and the United States around Donald Trump's tariffs and annexation threats, he hoped that the album would resonate with American listeners as well, given that the Great Lakes are shared between both countries and stand as a symbol of unity, co-operation and friendship rather than division.Brad Wheeler, "On The Great Lakes Suite, Rheostatics reject bumper-sticker nationalism: The band’s 13th studio album is out Nov. 21"]. The Globe and Mail, October 17, 2025.
Production The process of creating the album started in 2023, with early improvisational jams leading up to formal recording sessions in 2024. The main band lineup consisted of Bidini, Dave Clark, Tim Vesely, Kevin Hearn, Don Kerr and Hugh Marsh; regular band member Martin Tielli did not participate in the recording due to a desire to step back from music, but supported the project, played a role in securing Alex Lifeson's involvement, and contributed artwork for both the album booklet and the animated music video for "The Inland Sea".John Graham, "SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: RHEOSTATICS – THE GREAT LAKES SUITE". The Spill Magazine, November 2025.
Guest contributors included Lifeson, Tanya Tagaq, Chief Stacey LaForme, Laurie Anderson, Anne Carson, Kendel Carson and Liz Howard. One piece, "The Drop Off", features the musicians performing instrumental music behind a recording of a spoken-word monologue that Gord Downie performed at a fundraiser for Lake Ontario Waterkeeper in the 2000s.
Release The album was released on November 21, 2025, and was launched with two concerts on November 21 and 22 at the TD Music Hall in Toronto, featuring guest contributions by Lifeson and Marsh, and multimedia video by Nicholas de Pencier and Jennifer Baichwal.Alex Hudson, "Rheostatics to Launch New Album with Toronto Performance Featuring Alex Lifeson". Exclaim!, July 29, 2025.
The concerts centred principally on music and spoken word from the album, along with improvisation in its style and approach, rather than on the entirety of the band's catalogue. Live shows concluded with Gordon Lightfoot's "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald", which the band had originally recorded for their 1991 album Melville.
Track listing
References