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Mar 13, 2025 Web Exclusive By Marc Abbott

These four new tracks from British indie heroes Swervedriver prove that it’s possible to sound as vital as ever when four decades deep into a recording career. This is no cynical cash-in on ’90s nostalgia; it’s a collection of tracks that prove the lasting songwriting talents of one of the UK’s most original–and quietly influential–guitar outfits.

Recent single “Volume Control” evokes everything that set Swervedriver apart back in the day. It’s a brilliantly produced, pile-driving, psychedelic guitar-led assault, shot through with guitarist/vocalist Adam Franklin’s breathless delivery and overdriven guitar. And when the strings kick in, this tune becomes something very close to euphoric.

Opener, “Pack Yr Vision” melds vocal harmonies with layers of clean-toned guitar, and—like the later recordings of the band’s Oxonian contemporaries, Ride (whose frontman Mark Gardener assists in the recording here)—is not afraid of a major chord or two. One of the joys of Swervedriver, now as then, is the band’s knack for killer hooks and off-kilter choruses, wayward sonic diversions when you least expected them.

The EP’s title track introduces keyboard and strings to an altogether more laconic tune, signalling a change of pace that seems out of step with the other songs here. However, as Franklin references in a press release, on the subject of recording EPs in the 1990s, “It was a cool way to present your music with no sort of commitment or direction. Back then, you could just go off on one on any song, and that’s what we wanted to do again here.”

Nothing demonstrates this approach better than EP closer, “Time Attacks.” It’s the only track of this collection with a discernible bassline, and—dare we say—genuine mainstream radio appeal; the guitars are lower in the mix, the vocals are clear, the chorus will stay with you for days. It’s altogether joyous.
These 15 minutes of music stand on their own merit as both an introduction to an underrated force in British guitar music, and as an addition to long-term fans’ collections. There is darkness here, and there is light. It’s the sound of a band doing what they love. The World’s Fair is a beacon of happiness, an occasionally spine-tingling slice of everything that made Swervedriver great back then, and proof positive that this vitality endures. (www.swervedriver.com)

Author rating: 7.5/10