Doused in ambient vocals and hypnotic guitars, Bath-based dream-pop newbies Night Swimming join us in the bar on 30th September, following their new single ‘Evergreen’ for a free show, so we got to know ’em!
Set the scene for us, who are we talking to and what’s your view right now?
You are talking to Meg, (singer of Night Swimming). I am sat in the Pound Arts Cafe in Corsham as I am responding to these questions 🙂
You’ve just played Dot to Dot, how was that for you guys?
Dot to Dot was an incredible experience. SWX was the biggest venue we’ve played and we were amazed by the turn-out of people. We were particularly excited to be on lineups with bands we really look up to like ‘Mary in the Junkyard’, ‘Wunderhorse’ and ‘Jockstrap’. It was lovely to play Rough Trade in Nottingham again. I used to live in Nottingham, and I haven’t played that venue since I was a solo act many years ago. Dot to Dot was definitely an inspiring weekend for us.
Your first release was in 2022 but when did you all come together as a band and what was that process like?
We first formed the band in 2021, and worked on developing a sound that was unique to us. We all met on a music course at university; although we were in different year groups. Jesse (guitarist) and I were in a band previously, and decided we wanted to continue working together after the project ended. We met Sam (guitarist) first, followed by Torin (drummer) and Josh (bassist).
There’s a really lush shoegaze inspired tone to your tracks, is that something your try and pinpoint whilst writing and recording?
Thank you. We would describe our music as dream pop with subtle shoegaze and trip-hop influences. We love films and strive to make music that evokes imagery for people and has a cinematic feel. I would say these are the main things we think about whilst creating our songs.
We love your latest release ‘Let That Be Enough’, what can you tell us about how that song came together?
‘Let That Be Enough’ mostly came together in a practise room. Jesse brought the initial rhythm guitar part to rehearsal one day, and we expanded on the idea in a jam. Each of us wrote our own parts, and the lyrics came last once the music was finished. I wrote the lyrics in my bedroom, and in cafés around Bath. The words were written about moving on from past experiences, as well as learning to trust yourself and accepting the choices that you’ve made. We recorded ‘Let That Be Enough’ live to tape, at Middlefarm Studios in Devon. We worked with Pete Miles who encouraged us to embrace an organic approach to the way that we recorded our songs.
Notts has a great grassroots music scene, are there any notable venues or places around Bath that helped influence and shape Night Swimming as a group?
‘Moles’ was one of the first venues we played as a band, and was instrumental to the Bath music scene. We all spent a lot of time there, and watched many local, and more established bands play at the venue over the years. ‘Moles’ had a real sense of community for local musicians, and we were all saddened when they announced that they were closing last December. We enjoy being part of the Bristol scene as well, and many of the venues are great to play (such as ’The Louisiana’, ‘Thekla’, ‘The Crofters Rights’ and ‘Dareshack’). We have been influenced by many of the gigs we’ve seen at these venues, and feel that playing live has been important for shaping our sound.
There was a bit of a break in releasing music for you guys, was that a deliberate choice or did you use it to work on your sound?
We wanted to take some time to write more songs, and feel more sure of what we were
going to release. We feel that the break was valuable for developing our sound further, and trying out different ideas in live settings.
Lastly, if there was a piece of gear you could never get rid of from your live set up, what would it be?
Sam says it would be his Line 6 HX Stomp pedal. Sam used to use the HX Stomp pedal as his live guitar amp because it was able to simulate many different amp sounds. After we recorded our EP, ‘No Place To Land’, he realised that he missed the sound of a loud amplifier behind him, and the sounds you can achieve from getting too close to it, (such as unique feedbacks). Right now, Sam has our setlist programmed into this pedal, including all of the sounds specific to each of our songs.
Jesse says the piece of gear he would never remove from our live set-up is his TC Electronic Polytune pedal, because being in-tune certainly helps to achieve a nice tone.
Catch Night Swimming at The Bodega on the 30th September. Free tickets available here.
