3 days ago
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Composed of Venus O’Broin, Joshua Doherty, Maxwell Elphick, and Jack Medlyn, Swapmeet have always chased an abstract feeling before a more concrete definition. When they first began playing together as teenagers in the early 2020s, the goal was more so to connect as a band in long basement sessions, following gut instinct rather than crafted intention. Today, they've “matured a lot as writers and producers,” they say. “Recording properly forced us to land on a sound that reflects all of our influences instead of just chasing energy. The sound’s changed a lot since those early jams, but the magic we found at 18 never left.”
Though rooted in the Adelaide music scene, having just signed to Winspear as the label's first international act, the rising band occupy an in-between space. “It feels like we exist between two scenes. We’re inspired by the artists we’re close with at home, but also by bands on the other side of the world making similar music.” Around the time of writing their new single“I Know!” their listening habits were wide-ranging. Garden State-era indie nostalgia meets the atmospheric pull of Loukeman, whilst keeping the confidence and presence of Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Karen O. Even fleeting fascinations with chaotic drum and bass producers experimenting with Eurorack gear seem to fall into the mix.
Where earlier material leaned into looseness, “I Know!” feels intentional without losing its pulse. Guitars remain central, which the band claim is always the first building block. But the recording process has become a space of discovery rather than mere documentation. “When we started, we knew we were searching for something, we just didn’t know what it was yet,” they explain. “Using production software almost like another instrument opened everything up. This record feels like the first time we’ve properly captured what Swapmeet actually sounds like.”
Swapmeet's songs usually begin with a riff or chord progression, the emotional architecture embedded before the pen is even put to paper. “The instrumental can be almost complete before the words are finished. The mood of the music tells us what we need to talk about.” That restless yet deeply caring mood defines “I Know!” “There’s a kind of delicacy inside the chaos,” they say. “The songs build to a point where they almost feel like they might fall apart. That’s usually where we’re most honest.” The track itself was recorded before it had been tested live: “A lot of it sounds like we’re discovering it as we go. That’s what makes it fun.”
The song sits within a broader emotional document of the slow but wholly disorienting shift from adolescence into adulthood. Swapmeet writes quickly, often close to the events that inspire them, aiming to capture any and all emotions before they dull. When asked to picture “I Know!” as a film scene, the band lands somewhere halfway through a Spike Jonze movie: neon-lit bathrooms, someone asleep beside a bar stool, two people kissing who probably shouldn’t be. Messy, but infinitely wholesome and tender. It’s an image that fits the band’s off-the-cuff trajectory, best captured in this revved up track that arrives ahead of the band's US debut at SXSW in March.
English (US) · 