The recording project of Philadelphia‘s Tom Morris, Swim Camp has been perfecting a version of bedroom pop for a number of years. Back in 2019 we covered the record Pretty Bird, released via Z Tapes, which used an ambiguous sense of emotion as its cornerstone. The style allowed Morris to explore what he called an “emotionally muddy world” while retaining the structural narrative of previous releases. The result saw Swim Camp establish its MO, pushing beyond the simple binaries of happy and sad in order to execute “a deft balance between lonely melancholy and a kind of quiet triumph.”
This autumn sees Swim Camp return with Fishing in a Small Boat, a brand new full-length to be released via Know Hope Records which continues this exploratory descent into the intricacies of personal relationships. Rooted in introspective intimacy yet made vivid by Morris’s creative vision, the are songs indebted to the classic bedroom pop aesthetic but able to transcend it. Maintaining the earnestness of the genre but moving past its lo-fi style.
Lead single ‘Melt’ is a perfect example. Opening with a murmured, confessional tone, the sound has all the hallmarks of the genre. Though as the track develops, so does the sound. Lively drums shake the song forward as Molly Germer’s violin hovers behind the vocals, and eventually the various elements coalesce into something bright and clamorous. Something alive.
