Review – Midnight Swim untitled demo/EP CD
From the song-and-a-half
I caught of Midnight
Swim during their opening set of a gig the other night
I could tell theirs was a dark, moody/brooding, ethereal muse. But it was enough for me to venture over to their
camp between sets to get a hold of the CD I was told they have available. What
was given to me seemed to be a half-arsed attempt at creating a marketable
music product, with just a hand-written title, track-listing and e-mail address
on the case-sleeve, inside which was a seemingly blank CD-R disc. But what I
caught of their set impressed me enough to give the record a listen, which is
where the half-arsed effort ceased altogether.
All
My Tears opens the account very
strongly with something you’d swear you’ve heard on the radio recently: a
jingly but almost dark 90s alterna-pop thing with all the ambience of Glance, The
Church and some of the early-90s Flying Nun artists, and maybe even a
touch of Radiohead.
Midnight Swim follows suit, Carousel sets things back a touch and
while Inside also promises to follow suit it soon changes pace for If
I? and a swirly, phased close.
OK, so
it’s only a demo, but a little artwork needn’t cost too much – a glance through
the classifieds of the local street press will show that, or even someone
hacking their way through the art files of their home computer would have been
enough. Many people won’t look past that – I suggest you do otherwise, and give
the guys a hand toward the next step on their hopefully promising careers.