In the studio: Andrew Eaton and Hamish Brown. On stage: Andrew, Hamish and Laura Cameron Lewis.
Influences
Pulp, Sparks, Laurie Anderson, Steve Reich, Kate Bush, The Associates, Roxy Music, David Bowie, Pet Shop Boys, Kraftwerk, Blondie, Prefab Sprout, ROC, Saint Etienne, Jane Siberry, Orange Juice, the Blue Nile, Bjork, the Cure, New Order (but only a bit, so please stop saying we sound like them, because we really don't), Cocteau Twins, the Smiths, Suicide, Throbbing Gristle, Boards of Canada, Talking Heads, Soft Cell, Brian Eno, To Rococo Rot, Delia Derbyshire, OMD, Belle and Sebastian, Mark Eitzel, Kitchens of Distinction/Fruit, Stereolab. Other people like that. Many, many nights in dark, loud places. Various wild parts of Scotland. The sea. Worrying about the state of the world too much. Not wanting to be bored. Random stuff. (The noises that trains make. Shortwave radio. David Greig plays. Mondrian paintings. Peter Carey's short stories. Momus's online diary. The Scottish weather.)
Sounds Like
'Terrific. A little bit Elbow, a little bit Pulp, a little bit the Blue Nile, a little bit The Who, even.' - Mark Radcliffe
Our main home on the internet is www.swimmerone.co.uk, where you'll find more music, short films and our blog, among other stuff. We're on Last FM and Facebook too, if that's your thing. We're not active enough from day to day to make Twitter worth bothering with. One day, maybe.
BUY OUR ALBUM
Here's what some people said about our first album The Regional Variations. There are more reviews here.
'They give intelligence a good name and are more windswept than worthy. Their music has the quirky intricacy of Belle & Sebastian and the soaring atmosphere of Blue Nile, and it is very, very good.' The Guardian
'Andrew Eaton and Hamish Brown make their angsty but uplifting electronic pop in a small attic by the sea just north of the Scottish capital, and their songs often evoke the wind-blown expanses of the Scottish countryside and coastline. But there's little narrow-minded or hidebound about their exhilarating debut, The Regional Variations, one of the finest of this year's freshman efforts.' The Independent
'Swimmer One's debut is a promiscuous synth pop marvel, littered with doomsayers, fakesters, drowning men, black sheep, theatre freaks and TV clowns in fuck-me heels... A bookish, codpiece-disco treat.' Plan B
'Might just be the find of the year... Like a stripped-down Scottish Pet Shop Boys or a more melancholy synth-based Pulp, Swimmer One's brilliance should be shouted from the rooftops.' The List
'If David Bowie ever got stuck in a lift shaft with Jarvis Cocker and
Bill Drummond, they might eventually come up with something as enticing
as The Regional Variations.' Metro
Swimmer One
The Regional Variations
Released September 2007
Biphonic Records
BIPH06CD
Tracklisting:
1. Drowning Nightmare 1
2. Largs Hum
3. National Theatre
4. But My Heart Is Broken
5. The Fakester Genocide
6. The Balance Company
7. Drowning Nightmare 2
8. Whatever You Do, Don't Go In The Basement.
9. Regional
10. The Dark Ages
11. A Petrol Pump In The Cradle Of Christianity
You can buy our stuff from any good record shop. If they don't have it in stock, ask them to order it in for you from our distributor Cargo. Most music shops have internet access so can get the information they need to order it in from there.
Swimmer One make their experimental pop music in a small attic room on the Scottish coastline. An album, The Regional Variations, was released in September 2007 on Biphonic Records. Before that there were three singles, We Just Make Music For Ourselves, Come On, Let's Go! on Biphonic Records and Largs Hum backed with a cover of Kate Bush's Cloudbusting (as a free download single on Dogbox records). A second album will be released in 2009.
If you like us, try our Biphonic Records label-mates Luxury Car, who we really cannot recommend highly enough.
What other people have said about Swimmer One...
'We want more, more, more of their wily words, their tender synth fare, their surprisingly colossal pop.' - Plan B magazine.
'Intelligent experimental pop with quite lovely melodies.' - Scotland on Sunday
'One of the country's most exciting bands.' - The List.
'Electropop marvels.' - Metro.
'The KLF are jealous, Death in Vegas more so. How, I wonder, can they fail to be ruling the universe?' - Unpeeled.
'One of the best debut outings I've had the pleasure of hearing in a long while. Very smart stuff indeed.' - Losing Today.
'Sounds like the Divine Comedy dabbling with mellow techno. Definitely something very interesting going on here.' - Playlouder.
'(Swimmer One) fit effortlessly into the upper echelons of Scottish music.' - Logo.
'The missing link between Pulp and the Chemical Brothers.' - Jim Gellatly, XFM.
'The sound of Berlin-era Bowie being tied up under the stairs of a sex shop with the seedy electro of Soft Cell and the grandiose melodic pop of the Pet Shop Boys.' - God is in the TV.
FILM
Edinburgh artist/film-maker Daniel Warren has made several works that feature Swimmer One music and have been screened and won awards worldwide. You can watch two of these below and lots more on YouTube.
The Balance Company
A collaboration between Daniel Warren, the theatre company Highway Diner and Swimmer One.
We Just Make Music For Ourselves
The first video we ever made. We're still very fond of it.
Hello chaps, Hope you're well, and don't mind this little advert... I'll have my posh trousers on this Saturday for some piano/string quartet action: 1st August, Canongate Kirk, 7.30 Elgar & Shostakovich Piano Quintets.
Hey guys, it was good to hear your first foray into hollywood at the EIFF the other night. I thought they were going to play the whole song for a moment! J.
Swimmer One
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