From the time we started Latitudes, we’ve held a secret wish list of bands that we intended to lure into our studio. We’ve cut a major notch in our bedpost by finally scoring with Arbouretum, a band that meets universal approval at Latitudes HQ.

Arbouretum offer up four cover versions of the brilliant Gordon Lightfoot, the oft-overlooked Canadian singer-songwriter who helped define the folk-rock sound of the Sixties and Seventies. The highlight of the session is unsurprisingly the song that Lightfoot considers to be his finest work, the ballad telling the tale of the doomed cargo ship the Edmond Fitzgerald, which sank in Lake Superior in 1975, taking 29 crew to their watery graves.

From the liner notes: On the surface, Gordon Lightfoot might seem an odd choice for potential interpretation. Despite mass appeal and a long career, he never really received the critical acclaim of his contemporaries, and I\’ve always felt his songwriting eclipsed the performances and often insimpatico production of his albums. Trust Arbouretum to really unearth the essence of his spirit. Their main tool is the diversity of mood and approach : from the gravitas of the aforementioned Wreck through the upbeat breezy Carefree Highway, the furrowed brow of Protocol and finally the ecstatic meditative Early Morning Rain. These are exactly what cover songs should sound like – immediately familiar, reverent yet fresh and worthy.