Swervedriver – Future Ruins
Bold and ambitious, Swervedriver's sixth studio album Future Ruins is deliriously difficult to place, and all the more exciting for it
Swervedriver’s innate creativity and their obstinate refusal to fit into any convenient pigeonholes meant that despite its incredible creativity their original run rather flew under the radar. Too rock for shoegaze, too dreamy to be grunge, too modernist in outlook to sit in the psychedelic scene, they were more Iggy and the Stooges than Lush. Time has helped weather those attitudes, however, with longstanding fans Mogwai signing the Oxford band to Rock Action for their sixth full length LP Future Ruins.
Powerful opener Mary Winter hits top speed first time out, a rollicking, momentum-fuelled piece of noise rock sedated by just the merest hint of bubblegum melody. It’s a feast of unhinged guitar distortion, with centrepiece Drone Lover providing a virtual manifesto for Swervedriver’s unfettered lust for rock minimalism as a means to break on through to the other side.
All of which isn’t to suggest that Future Ruins is simply a feast of volume. The band’s nuanced songwriting contains pearls of real beauty, such as the twinkling elements of Golden Remedy or even the bittersweet Spiked Flower.
Far from an exercise in retro thrills, Swervedriver continually feel as though they’re challenging both themselves and their audience, moving in tandem with real time to overhaul their thinking while remaining true to their sonics. Bold and ambitious, Future Ruins is deliriously difficult to place, and all the more exciting for it.
Listen to: Drone Lover, Spiked Flower, Mary Winter