SWIM DEEP - SINGLE REVIEW


Swim Deep - She Changes The Weather (Chess Club/RCA Victor)
Swim Deep - She Changes The Weather

Release Date: 6th May 2013

OK. This is serious stuff. Most of the time I get sent perfectly competent music by reasonable musicians and, I'm sure, lovely people. Every now and again though, something comes through that genuinely stops me in my tracks and reminds me how lucky I am to be able to share great, new music with you. I had heard of Swim Deep before I received a copy of their new single but everything I'd heard somehow convinced me they were a Westcoast  American bunch of misfits making stoner rock for slackers and dropouts (nothing wrong with that by the way, some of my best friends are slackers). However, much to my delight, Swim Deep are actually a quartet from Birmingham (UK not Alabama) formed through chance meetings, boredom and a sense of want more out of life - the way all great bands are formed.

For a single, 'She Changes The Weather' is beautifully brave, determined, unrelenting and expansive to such an extent that it is absolutely natural for this record to have a nearly two minute intro. The looped piano riff that brings 'She Changes The Weather' to life is not particularly melodic but conjours the wide streets and immaculate front lawns of middle America with children playing openly on an optimistically warm Saturday morning. As the drums join in, almost shuffling through the garage door, the tune starts to swell and take shape and you can feel that sunshine burn through the haze and start to warm the world around you. This is a record that inflates you with positivity and allows your soul to float above the streets, to rise above the mire. Vocals akin to Tim Burgess at his sleepiest, guitars that Smashing Pumpkins would be proud of and a wall of sound that Nirvana would have made if they'd only had one positive song. This is part Shoe-gaze, part grunge, part Indie and a great big dollop of soul warmed through with the sunshine of your youth. Mainly, though, this is simply one of the most refreshing, exciting and intriguing pieces of music created by a British band that I have heard in years. There is a debut album coming soon and a string of live dates that you really ought to cast an eye over but for the time being I think that 'She Changes The Weather' should keep you going for quite a while - I've given it about 15 listens so far and it's still fascinatingly beautiful.

More information: http://swim-deep.tumblr.com

Live dates:

30.03.13            Stockton               Stockton Calling
02.05.13             Liverpool             Sound City
04.05.13            Leeds                      Live at Leeds
18.05.13            Brighton                  The Great Escape
25.05.13            Bristol                      Dot to Dot
26.05.13            Nottingham            Dot To Dot 
27.05.13            Edinburgh               Cabaret Voltaire
28.05.13            Manchester            Deaf Institute                         
29.05.13            London                    Village Underground 
31.05.13            Birmingham            Institute                                    

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