"Copy this and we come find you and step on your head with boots on" reads the album inlay. Could it be possible that I have accidentally picked up a thrash metal CD, with Swell about to emerge as the new Napalm Death?

Thankfully not. In the world of American Indie Swell are well respected, having built up a steady following since their 1990 self-titled debut LP and improving on their music as they went, this being their fifth album.

Opening track Today fades in with a low bass riff much in the style of Pearl Jam's Rats only to fill out into a moody low-fi album rather than another PJ epic. Oh My My is REM circa Automatic, with its acoustic finger-picking and piano accompanied chorus and Something To Do mixes the bass and acoustic combination once more, only to culminate in a gorgeous flute-led chorus.

This band have the ability to take the simplest of melodies and repeat them until they are the catchiest ones you've ever heard, but without overproduction, to keep the overall sound 'real'. Swell have a talent that is very rare. You could play this album today and love it, and hear it in a years' time and still think it was great. For All The Beautiful People is solid proof that low-fi can work brilliantly.

What a Swell album.

10/10 Karl Cremin.

Swell Unofficial Circus Eye Homepage
Swell Official page at Psycho Specific Records

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