Swimming : 'Panthalassa'/'Crash The Current'
Released: 15/06/09
Label: Colourschool
Swimming have been hammering away for a little while now and it seems as if 2009 might be the year that sees them establish a decent presence. 'Panthalassa/Crash The Current' is the first single from their forthcoming debut album The Fireflow Trade. It's a double A-side and it's a bold move to make for their first proper release. However, it suggests that they believe in their material and if there is more where this came from, the album is a very exciting prospect indeed.
'Panthalassa' is a swirling, hyperactive, psychedelic ode to globalisation. Muse-style arpeggios chase their own tails, sparkling synths fly overhead and a wall of guitars sits solidly under the semi-vibrato vocals. It's somewhere between shoe-gaze, in its more accessible moments, and Danish pop stalwarts Mew.
It is a bit of a challenge to pick a favourite as 'Crash The Current' is another cracking tune, cut from the same cloth as 'Panthalassa', it uses the same tools, but has a different and equally memorable effect. Once again vocal hooks, crystalline synths and huge guitars combine into another hundred mile-per-hour slice of effect-laden euphoria, but it sounds a little darker, a little less rapturous. There's not much between them in turns of quality of songwriting and it's all indicative of great things to come. One thing is for sure though, the shoe-gaze revival is on its way, whilst not wishing to lump Swimming in with the nu-gaze gang, they represent a nice progression and will perhaps be the antidote to the approaching summer of discontent.
Words: Matt Parker
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