swim school – making sense of it all

Edinburgh four-piece swim school make their broad range of influences known on their new EP, making sense of it all, flitting from abrasive grunge to wistful shoegaze and plenty more in between.

Across the EP’s five tracks, the band – made up of vocalist and guitarist Alice Johnson, guitarist Lewis Bunting, bassist Matt Mitchell and drummer Billy McMahon – demonstrate their ability to craft catchy pop hooks and big singalong choruses fit for festival crowds. And it’s come at the right time, just ahead of the return of the much-anticipated festival season we’ve been longing for.

Thundering opener Let Me Inside Your Head is three-and-a-half-minutes of thrashing drums and bellowing vocals, while recent single Anyway showcases a more delicate side to the band. The softest moment, though, comes on Everything You Wanted, where Johnson recalls a particularly difficult loss.

Closing track, Outside, is about as 90s as a track can come; a glam-rock-meets-Britpop banger with a riff that Suede would be proud of. It finds Johnson in a place of strength and clarity lyrically, too, singing 'Now there’s nothing left to prove / You see I’m doing better without you'.

Listen to: Let Me Inside Your Head, Anyway