Washington, D.C. based band Swoll will released their self-titled debut album on March 9 via Blight Records. You can pre-order the album now via Bandcamp. To give us another taste of the album, the band has shared their new single You’ve Gone Away. Take a listen via Soundcloud below.
Last month, the band released the first single Slow from the forthcoming release. The track is also streaming at Soundcloud.
About the song, Swoll’s Matthew Dowling says: “Slow is about embracing soul-crushing defeat; the kind defeat of the flavor of a failed long-term relationship, or a failed life-long endeavor, or even a slow death of a loved one. Like most of the lyrics on the record, the lyrics for “Slow” are a vague amalgamation of multiple experiences I’ve had in my life. The opening lyrics “Eyes change slow / and don’t turn back / after you grow” refer to aging of the eyes. While the modern world provides endless options for cosmetic surgery as a combat to aging, it’s pretty impossible (and probably always will be impossible) to alter aging of the eyes themselves. Eyes age quite slowly, but they age with a steadfast resolve, and I think there’s something physiologically as well as psychologically deep about that. In this context, I’m coupling this biological truth with the experience of taking an incredibly long time to see something for what it is, say for example, a toxic relationship, and that discovery as being shocking to you, even though if you maybe had a healthier perspective, it would have been comically obvious. In plainer terms, one saying to themselves something like “of course, she/he never really loved me” or “duh, he/she stopped wanting to pursue this project since like seven years ago”; once your eyes change, that signifies growth, which is ultimately a good thing, but it’s also deeply painful. I guess irreversibility is kind of a sad, yet triumphant concept. That’s what I wanted the song to feel like, sad/triumphant.”
After the dissolution of Deleted Scenes in 2014, Matthew Dowling bassist of many D.C. bands over the last decade (the EFFECTS, Paperhaus, Joy Buttons) started working with Benjamin Schurr (Br’er/Blight Records) on a series of sparse, melancholic, yet hook-driven new songs. Utilizing limitations as a compositional tool, the duo focused on a spare sonic palate of old drum machines, bass, baritone guitar and haunting synths. Stylistically, SWOLL marries elements of pop, electro, rock and trap with major emphasis on grooves. Dowling’s falsetto floats atop chugging bass lines as a stark contrast to the dark growling beats, giving the music both an intimate and powerful presence.
‘Swoll’ track list
1. Back To You
2. Shake
3. Settle Up The Road
4. Budge
5. Stars
6. Snow
7. You’ve Gone Away
8. Stranger
9. Slow
Swoll will be playing on February 24 in Washington, D.C. at Slash Run and will announce additional tour dates in the coming weeks.
