Swervedriver – Deep Wound
British alt.rock moodists return with their first track in 15 years. Hear it now.
LONDON’S Camden Town in the summer of 1990 was awash with indie rock bands keen on recycling the bowl-cut aesthetics of ’60s jangle-pop and foppish attitude of psychedelia. Swervedriver were the exception to that rule. Relocating from Oxford to London, they looked instead to America for inspiration, aspiring to make records that bristled with the subversive pop hooks and rapacious energy of Hüsker Dü, Pixies, Sonic Youth and, above all, Dinosaur Jr.
Their first single, Son Of Mustang Ford (released on Creation Records in July, 1990) remains one of the most glorious tunes to emerge in the wake of the so-called grunge explosion of ’89, matching Adam Franklin and Jim Hartridge’s motorised guitar-weaving with a beguiling, below-the-line vocal melody and lyrics that celebrated the joy of wide-open American freeways.
23 years later, those same distorted pop sensibilities remain reassuringly intact on Deep Wound – their first new studio recording for 15 years. The track itself was premiered on US TV show Late Night With Jimmy Fallon in March 2012 before being recorded in July this year. It has since been aired during Swervedriver’s recent Australian shows.
During their sojourn Down Under, Swervedriver also spent time in the studio recording a new album – their first since their split in 1999 and subsequent reformation in 2008 – which is due for release next year.
Deep Wound is available now.
PHOTO: Michael Alan Goldberg