Swimming. Its brilliant isnt it? All wet and everything. Except when you get a verruca and have to wear one of those special socks and everyone at school laughs at you for being different and into rubber. No verrucas to be found on this second album from Nottingham five piece Swimming, who all have impeccable foot hygiene.
Its a rum mish-mash of textures, styles and moods; some more successful than others, held together by the high pitched vocals of globe-trotting lead singer John Sampson. Neutron Wireless Crystal is a throbbing blast of 80s icy synth pop with a catchy refrain while In Ecstatics maps similar territory with an air-punching chorus. Should sound great live. Electronic textures wash over everything on the album, covering some otherwise excellent songs in a layer of static that gets annoying after a while. Its a bit tinny too. Do they have a bass player and was he plugged in? Theres some interesting stuff here its just buried under a haze of synthy fog. Take Sun in the Island for example; fine harmonies, some interesting Ride-like guitar and a solid song structure in there. Unfortunately theres also a horribly repetitive keyboard stab and far too much echo on everything. Same with Classic 1001 Dreams. Fine song in there near the back obviously. Turn left at the cathedral of sound.
The press blurb says that this is an imaginative blend of swirling synths, psychedelic rock, drum machines and intense melodic pop. Mostly true, but with the added suffix of ruined by mediocre production.
Listen to a couple of tracks and its a blissful treat. Listen to the whole thing in one go and it will give you an ice cream headache. Still, thats better than a verruca.