Gig review: Swim Deep at Brudenell Social Club, Leeds
The Birmingham alt-pop outfit bring some of their strongest efforts to date out at their tour launcher, with material new and old received with warm appreciation.
“I think the last time we played here was, like, maybe in 2013 or something?” Swim Deep frontman Austin ‘Ozzy’ Williams ventures, one eyebrow raised quizzically towards his fringe.
Guitar slung low on his hip, face shadowed by the rear-projection glow of a neon-hue band logo, he drops his expression with an abashed smile. “But I guess that you’re still here, hey,” he tells the Brudenell Social Club, before striking up the mid-tempo chime of Francisco.
The Birmingham alt-pop outfit’s trajectory never quite took off in the way that may have been anticipated; a flurry of NME-feted singles, two charting records and subsequently diminished commercial returns – save, curiously, for in China.
It is something of a shame that swathes of their old audience are yet to return to them, given this year’s fifth album Hum ranks amongst their strongest efforts to date – a keening collection underscored with wry, woozy wistfulness.
This tour launcher in Leeds mostly draws a crowd for whom the city’s ongoing freshers-week festivities are a nostalgia drip to more than a decade ago, but who receive material both new and old with warm appreciation, leading off the indie-loop melodies behind opener Pieces of You and greeting Very Heaven’s dreamy baroque shuffle and Mud’s Britpop lushness with as much affection as offered to old singalong favourites Honey and She Changes the Weather.
New cut Is There Something Going On? sees Williams channelling The Smiths through a sly prism of melancholic gauziness; Sail Away, Say Goodbye meanwhile locks onto its floorfiller groove and refuses to let go. It all builds with an immersive satisfaction, particularly as it hits up the dance-rock giddiness behind Fueiho Boogie.
“Thanks for still coming out,” the singer bows, as King City – their biggest, best and most enduring cut, after all these years – sashays forth with euphoric power and panache. The faithful remain suitably rewarded.