SWIM Live with Orchestra

SWIM started as two guys sat in a small studio space surrounded by records of over 60 years of popular music and trying to make the grey London skies feel like the cool climes suggested by the steel drums resonating outside their Brixton studio; the reverb drenched pop sound found within seemed to provide the romanticised, blissful abandon of summer that was at polar opposites to the patchy English weather outside.

Whilst still an unnamed project, the two started writing associative words on the white walls of the studio, whenever they came to mind while they were recording, and, over the weeks, gradually crossed them off until there was one left; by this point circled and underlined several times. The name stuck.

When the time came that anyone outside their little bubble wanted to hear the music the duo had been concocting, they scoured to find and select some impossibly talented musicians who could actually play the music they’d meticulously programmed, sampled and endlessly re-recorded.

Lacking the nous themselves to communicate in muso terms, SWIM’s strength lies in the breadth of their references and is channelled through their music as it glides between new wave electronics, escapist lyrics and soaring vocals.