Swimming Girls Live @ The Nest, 12/05/15 – In Review
Oh, yes! It’s time to go back to the 90’s.
And, okay, so you’ve watched Montage of Heck a good few times right now, but this is more Beautiful Noise. Let’s just try make it through this article without any of the Britpop banter.
Swimming Girls are a Shoegaze/Dream Pop band from Bath Spa University. Recently, the band profited with the addition of a drummer (because man will always be better than machine), and I can safely say it has really amplified and polished their sound.
Swimming Girls were slick, and certainly weren’t wasting their time in a kids pool or in the slow lane. The band’s headline gig at The Nest in Bath was packed, the small venue was pretty alive in waves of 90’s nostalgic gaze.
Think Cocteau Twins, My Bloody Valentine, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Slowdive, even Ride, and you’ve got Swimming Girls‘ sound down.
However, they aren’t just one of these boring, ‘Hey guys, have you seen my pedal set-up’ bands. Oh no. Swimming Girls capitalise on that whole image and rock with it. Go into Urban Outfitters and you walk into recycled clothes from the 90’s priced for profitprofitprofit – Swimming Girls are profiting off their influences.
Their lead track, ‘Sugar Coated’, is as self explanatory as ever and as catchy as always. I still have it my head today. All bands that ‘one song’; this is theirs. As for the rest of the set, it was entertaining and solid. This reviewer may have been sat down in the corner doing shots for part of it – but it was a sonic pleasure to be doing shots to this soundtrack.
Here’s the Demo of ‘Sugar Coated’:
So, call it “boring” if you must, say ‘it all sounds the same’, but Shoegaze and Dream Pop are notoriously overbearing genres. They take a lot out of the listener, they demand the listeners’ attention, and you either get it or you don’t. I do. I get it. And any future releases are welcome here.
Swimming Girls don’t dress their music up to make it more accessible, they just keep it cool and fresh. And, be honest; Can you really ask for any more than that?
Information:
- Swimming Girls play London on Saturday supporting Trampolene
- Bath Spa’s Summer Ball, Bathfest and more dates are to be announced over summer.
- And for more information and to follow the guys, check out their FACEBOOK page.
#StayFresh
