This band will make you want to roadtrip to Canada

Each Friday, Morning Edition host Emily Fox checks in on new music in the Pacific Northwest.

This week she talks with Grant Lawrence, host and producer with CBC Music about the debut record by the Vancouver-based band, The Long War.

The record is called, "Landscapes." It’s a fitting title. Lawrence said many of the folk-rock anthems on the album were inspired by what The Long War see out of their "dirty windshield when they’re on tour — the Canadian landscape."

That includes the song, "Lake Louise," about a turquoise-looking glacial lake that's surrounded by mountain peaks in Banff National park.

“Lake Louise is one of the greatest places on earth, not just in Canada,” Lawrence said.

Lawrence knows the spot on a very personal level. He was once dared to skinny dip in it, just after the lake had thawed over.

“So as a Canadian rite of passage, I did it. It was like jumping into a slushy, and all of the tourists whipped out their cameras," he said. "All I’ll say to end this story is that the lake is very, very, very cold.”

The Long War will perform in Vancouver, B.C. on May 31.