INDIE-ROCK FRONTRUNNERS SWIM SCHOOL STUN WITH THEIR HIGHLY-ANTICIPATED DEBUT ALBUM

It’s news to no one in the indie scene that daring, dynamic indie-rock sensations Swim School have been ones to watch for a while, not only in their homescape of Edinburgh, but across the whole of the UK. With their insane instrumentals, irrefutable style, and irresistible rockstar-revival image, members Alice Johnson, Billy McMahon, Lewis Bunting and Lee Brown have only been getting greater and greater, riskier and riskier, all in the lead-up to this dramatic, daring passion-project of a self-titled debut studio album: Swim School.

Instead of taking the trodden-down path, the band wanted to go in a new direction, tossing off the safety belts and letting it all loose. Fans of The Cure, Wolf Alice and The Smashing Pumpkins – this album, coming to streaming platforms Friday 31st October, might just be your new spooky season obsession.

First track and first single released from the project, Heaven, doesn’t waste any time getting straight into the full blast of heavy indie-rock, introduced by an energised flurry of guitar strums and a quick teaser from the drums. Johnson’s hypnotically alluring vocals come in, all haziness and reverb, giving the immediate impression of an absolute rockstar: casual, even lazy, but undeniably brilliant and magnetic. Her voice is Ellie Rowsall-ish in its heavenly highs and sultry lows, and it careens over the grungier instrumentation like a siren song: ‘Only wanna see it if it looks like heaven / Only wanna touch it if it feels like hell / I only wanna hear it, God you’re so impressive / With only one guess, I guess I know you well.’ Electronic lines, high and spacey, bounce over the gritty, rock-rampant foundations, all pulled together by the frenetic, skilled, perfectly imperfect drumming from Billy McMahon.

McMahon himself has said, ‘I’m not a drummer, I’m a musician… I play to the song.’ This is something you notice immediately and continuously when listening to this album – the cohesion, musicality, and impeccable ear that it must have taken to build these tracks as a group of musicians, creating one final product together, fizzing with personality and skill. Second track Green Eyes (Want It All) is a perfect example of this. Powered by its bassline – written by Alice Johnson, played to perfection by Lee Brown, and nothing short of sexy – the song follows its beachy beat down a spookier path, exploring branches of possessive love, all the while perfectly balanced by the seductive depth of the bass and flashy, falsetto flare of Lewis Bunting’s electric guitar. An instrumental section is featured to push the band’s collective talent even further into the spotlight, with dynamic drums, overlapping electrics, and that blanket of bass powering it all.

Alone With You, another single, is up next. It begins in a hazy space, which is opened up by the guitar and the gentle undercurrent of tambourine. Johnson’s vocals here give the impression of a less clarified Clairo (that’s a compliment, I promise), and the chorus is absolutely euphoric, so full of sound yet still open and spacious. With the rippling riffs, addictive melody line and festival-perfect feel, you can definitely tell where the creative inspiration from The Cure has come through, with that earworm-worthy sound and universal hook: ‘I wanna be alone with you / Don’t wanna be alone.’ Following track Waste Your Time is a lively, uplifting Chloe–Moriondo-esque crowd-pleaser, more overtly rock-ish in Bunting’s amped up electric guitar intro. He and McMahon on the drums sound particularly close in this one, moving not only with but for each other; they ebb and flow at all the right moments, taking a separate journey alongside the vocals. It’s different, yet somehow so cohesive, as well as being really engaging and impossible not to bop along to.

A definite highlight of the album is the next number Always On My Mind. The opening is injected with electronica, a Radiohead style, until the heavy, steady, stomping sound comes in full throttle – this is grunge. Glimpses of the likes of Nirvana can be seen in the composition, while Johnson keeps her vocals quintessentially indie and hazy, creating an addictive style fusion. It’s moody, it’s magnetic, and has a strong inertia that you can’t help but get sucked into, pulled along into its trajectory of slow-release ecstasy. The end section is particularly gripping, with the instrumental and vocal layers alike coming together and then breaking apart, again and again, keeping the sound ever-moving and ever-heightening: a true star of a song.

After such a high high, however, following track and final single on the album, On & On, is a bit of a downgrade. Despite its definite commercial appeal and classic indie-rock sound – quick tempo, elevated guitar, with drums at the heart – it sounds a bit same-y when compared to similar previous tracks like Waste Your Time. But the next song Say It All brings the sound back up, maybe not to its full height, but certainly into an uplifting, angsty, coming-of-age space where the cadences are satisfying and the chord progressions superb. You can just picture this one on the ‘Heartstopper’ soundtrack, all sweetness and depth at the same time.

Penultimate track Crimson Red is definitely a dramatic moment. It has more shoegaze influences: spacey, distant, mysterious. A haunting foundational riff sets down soft ground for the verse, but it’s a hard, thrashing chorus that comes in soon enough, with deep, earthy guitar and bass, smashing drums, and tasteful percussive scaffolding from the tambourine. The verses centre the ever-stunning vocals and lyrics – ‘Did everything I could to make you proud / Longing for those words to leave your mouth’ – while the choruses champion some truly epic instrumentals. The drums are unwavering and full-impact, with McMahon hitting every beat with sheer grit and power, and Bunting’s matching guitar solo is jam-packed with energy, finesse, and above all, feeling. At one point, this cataclysm of harmony reduces, only to launch right back into the musical landscape – for that is indeed what it feels like. If you could see the song, it would be fully wrapped around you, swirling you up in its theatrics and depth.

And last but not least, Am I Good Enough Now?, a heavy final track that communicates how difficult it is to chase the dream of doing what you love and having to maintain a blood-suckingly draining online presence to keep it afloat: ‘How much more until it gives / When I’ve left my life behind for this / So am I good enough now?’ Slow tempo, the reverb-heavy guitar is reeled in, joined by mellow cymbal taps and a clear sense of anticipation from the get-go. At this final, emotionally charged hurdle, Johnson’s vocals slide up and down their impressive range, putting across a more desperate tone than before. But it’s the drums that really propel the song into motion; as the track moves along, the drumming builds up the intensity, going from steady to sporadic, tentative to explosive, powering the climax when it comes. And when it does, it thrills with its 90s-style crescendo, with a highly retro electric guitar riff that strings everything together. It’s an emotional summit as much as it is a musical one, an undeniably intense song to end on, leaving the listener with something to think about instead of just a singular, sonic impression.

Overall – if it wasn’t clear already – this is a triumph of a record from Swim School. Even with its very fleeting weaker moments, it has an undeniable star quality, killer highlight points, and collective group greatness. Want to hear it in the flesh? Swim School might be coming to a venue near you to play these gnashing new tracks on their upcoming UK and European ‘This Is The Headline Tour,’ so make sure you don’t miss them!