SWIM SCHOOL

OUTSIDE

Swim School are the Edinburgh based band who are currently making waves on the scene. The band was formed in 2019 and consists of Alice Johnson, Billy McMahon, Lewis Bunting and Matt Mitchell.

The band are influenced by a wide range of genres from 90’s grunge to modern indie citing they are influenced by the likes of The Cure, Slowdive, Foals & Wolf Alice.

Swim School’s latest single “Outside” is a fab piece of indie rock pie, the song has an anthemic guitar intro from Lewis Bunting with a melody that stays with you, from the beginning. The beat switches from standard rock out to a 4 on the floor laying the foundation for a clean vocal from Alice Johnson, I like her voice – its breathy, but powerful enough to get to you, it sits comfortably in the mix, and delivered in such a way that makes me want to go looking for more Swim School music. Definitely on my playlist since first hearing it, and more than likely probably going to be on my Spotify Wrapped at the end of the year!

Front woman Alice has said of this latest track:

“Outside is based on the negative impact the toxic people have on your mental health and the moment you realise how toxic they are. It’s not until you step back from the situation, that you realise their use of manipulation such as gas lighting and dishonestly was actually destroying your mental health. It made you question everything you did and slowly ate away at your confidence leading to you being unhappy.

Swim School have already had the distinction of gracing the Spotify “Scotify” and New Music Friday playlists, enjoyed airplay on BBC Music Introducing Scotland and have played several sold out dates including at The Great Escape Festival and have a headline show at TEMPO In Nottingham in August and with everything reopening now they look set to hit the ground running with a track like this. They’ve also been featured in and graced the pages of CLASH magazine.