Swim Deep and Bastille both acted as support for Two Door Cinema Club on their UK tour earlier this year. A number one album and a Great Escape headline slot may have already been achieved by Bastille but Birmingham five-piece Swim Deep could well be on their way to greater things too.
Their debut album is due out in July and of the two, theirs is definitely the stronger live act. Britpop has obviously been an influence on Swim Deep. Their sound is clearly mined from the early 1990s, drawing influence from Blur’s Modern Life Is Rubbish and Foxbase Alpha by Saint Etienne but with strong overtures of Californian rock.
In this heaving show at The Warren they gave a very clean and polished performance. Their breezy half-hour set whistled through their single releases in a supremely confident manner.
Tracks such as King City and The Sea – feelgood indie-pop songs with nice choruses which had the crowd nodding along in appreciation – could well feature prominently in festival montages this summer.
Without tearing up the rulebook, Swim Deep are definitely on the more interesting end of the UK hype-band scale and their Great Escape performance will do much to create a buzz around their debut LP.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here