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Jan 11, 2021 By Caleb Campbell Photography by Sydney Schafer SWIMM

LA-based psych pop band SWIMM have released their latest single, “You Never Fake It,” premiering with Under the Radar. After building a name in the LA independent scene with their shows at their warehouse home ‘The Cube,’ the band made their full-length debut in 2018 with Sentimental Porno. After returning in 2020 with their new single “Feel Better,” the band is gearing up for the release of their sophomore album Best Comedown Ever.

For “You Never Fake It,” SWIMM once again constructs a pillowy world of psychedelic melodies and vibrant production. The heavy and slightly distorted intro quickly gives way to twinking keys and chiming acoustic guitar, slowly building into a heady drum and bass combo. The band also brings on singer/songwriter Lauren Ruth Ward for a vocal feature, offering a celestial counterpoint to frontman Chris “Cookie” Hess’s vocals. Ward initially sounds ethereal, buried into the track, but she finally blossoms into brilliant full color on the bridge, bursting through the haze of instrumentation. Meanwhile, the irresistible bass groove, rich washes of synths, and splashes of syncopated guitar carry the track to its addictive instrumental closing.

Hess says of the song, “The story of ‘You Never Fake It’ was actually birthed out of one rainy night in Manhattan I had a few years ago, but when I hear this song it brings me back to the first couple weeks of quarantine…This is gonna sound a little Indigo-child dream-catcher vibe but I kept hearing “Kim”, the somewhat illusory character of the song, in my head when I was recording and wanted to somehow capture the spirit of her and have it feel analogous to the way you can kind of capture a memory in a song. So I texted my best bud and bandmate of our side project Aging Actress, Lauren Ruth Ward, and asked her to sing some words into her phone and text them back. I didn’t give her the tempo or key, which was really silly of me now that I think about it but somehow what she did just worked perfectly. I guess it helps that she is the best singer on the damn planet. Eventually, I asked her to sing on the bridge and kinda go for it for the end of the song.

In an odd sense, I have some weird nostalgia for those first few weeks. And I don’t mean that in any disrespect to those that were sick or hurting. It’s just that I really escaped to and lived in that song for that time and through the beauty of art or whatever, that place became more real to me than the terrifying state of things.” Check out the song below and watch for Best Comedown Ever, coming via Sunset Mesa.