Swim Deep and Best Friends, Plug

Last time I saw Birmingham’s Swim Deep, they were a supporting act at The Leadmill (see review here), playing to a sparse crowd of fairly apathetic Spector fans. Fast forward to nearly 5 months later, and they are in the middle of their first headline tour, selling out venues like Nottingham’s Bodega and Sheffield’s Plug. I ended up at this gig a bit by chance, I was off to see Glasgow punk trio Paws at Bungalows and Bears later that evening (review here!), but fortunately due to a late stage time I was able to catch both. The anticipation for this evening's gig was palpable, and I was ready to be carried away from an icy Tuesday evening in Yorkshire to the California coast by Swim Deep's unique, blissful summery anthems.

It would appear that Swim Deep’s audience for tonight is primarily composed of 14-16 year olds on half term holiday, but at least their youthful enthusiasm adds a bit of atmosphere to an otherwise fairly soulless venue. Support comes from Avida Dollars, followed by Sheffield’s own bright stars Best Friends. Their summery, upbeat melodies get the audience bouncing, and there’s even an ill-fated attempt at crowd surfing. I did feel the some of their songs lacked something distinctive, and someone needs to tell them they don’t need to add an ‘ooh ooh oooooh’ bit after every chorus. However, Best Friends stand out in the current wave of purveyors of 90s throwback indie-pop, they’ve built a decent collection of catchy tunes and know what they’re doing when it comes to creating an energetic live set.

Swim Deep arrive on stage dressed in crop tops and baggy jumpers teamed with a smattering of peroxide and a distinct lack of footwear. As a collective, they're pretty easy on the eye, and drummer Zach has recently walked the runway for YSL. The band pick up on the lukewarm room, cockily taunting them with their mid-priced beers and taunting, ‘We thought tonight was going to be a big one!’. Still, the kids in the crowd (including a few with the band’s logo scribbled on various body parts, I imagine they’ve developed a tragic pun-based name for themselves) don’t need much to get going. Second song ‘Honey’ sweeps hazily through the venue, Austin’s sugar sweet vocal drifting over intricate guitar melodies. Their cult following is well-deserved; Swim Deep’s slightly shambolic but nevertheless genius combination of dreamy, psychedelic guitars, grungy bass riffs and incessant beats to which you can’t help but dance make them instantly likeable. They are guilty of the odd cheesy lyric here and there, but their effortless, laid-back swagger allows them to get away with it. 

New single ‘The Sea’ is undoubtedly reminiscent of countless nineties indie tracks (a similarity to The Charlatans immediately springs to mind), but in a good way, and it’s clear the band have mastered the art of the killer indie-pop chorus. The set ends with a triumphant stage dive from singer Austin (resulting in a lost headband) and guitarist Higgy (resulting in lost shoes), as 'King City' plays out to an ecstatic crowd.

It’s hard to predict how Swim Deep’s debut LP (produced by the man behind Florence’s success) is going to pan out. While they’ve clearly dedicated a lot of time to honing their live performance and co-ordinating their bandanas and tie-dye t-shirts, their set list is pretty much the same as last time I saw them. That’s not to say their current repertoire isn’t full of amazing songs. I still love the hazy optimisim of ‘Honey’ and ‘King City’ is nothing short of a classic in my eyes (who doesn’t love a good Pixies-esque bassline), so I’m eager to hear what they come up with. They’ve clearly evolved since they first emerged, hopefully they don’t fall out of fashion before they come up with something substantial.

Tuesday 19th February @ Plug, Sheffield