Photo: Press
Last year’s Where the Heaven Are We isn’t the type of record that slaps you in the face. Rather, it announces itself with minimal gestures – a lazy wave, a knowing nod.
It’s always interesting to see how bands whose music doesn’t lend itself to histrionics will bring their songs to life in front of a massively enthused audience (and those here assembled under the largest glitter ball in all of Camden are nothing if not enthused).
In Swim Deep’s case it’s a bit off an odd one. Whilst they certainly own the stage, there’s still something slightly surreal in the disparity between the laid back lilt of songs like ‘Honey’ and ‘The Sea’ and the passionate sing-alongs and quickly aborted crowd-surfing attempts they provoke. Of course, they do manage to feed off the energy in the room and adapt accordingly.
Whilst tunes ‘Colour Your Ways’ breeze along inoffensively, loaded with more 90’s nostalgia than modem dial noise and a lot more listenability (much like the record), other songs spring into a different sort of life. ‘Red Lips I Know’, greatly enhanced by an additional live backing vocalist, veers off into a baggy jam that has a lot more bite than anything on the album, and ‘Soul Tripping’ gets a similar sort of treatment.
The encore kicks things into another gear. Austin takes the stage alone to play a reverb drenched version of ‘Intro’ which merges seamlessly into ‘She Changes the Weather’, the rest of the band taking the stage as the piano loops kick in an X Factor-esque firework-waterfall moment of triumphalism.
This is topped moments later when they round things off with ‘King City’ (which, with its vocal hook, sounds like it must only be a short hop down the motorway from M83’s ‘Midnight City’) and Austin abandons his guitar, climbs the speakers at the side of the stage and sprays the audience in champagne.
If tonight’s showing is anything to go by, Swim Deep have more than enough adoration flowing their way to ensure they can outgrow the B-Town label and carve themselves a place in the guitar pop cannon they’re so enamoured off.
