Swim Deep – O2 Institute review by Sabrina Fung

I was enjoying my usual coffee and chill time in Faculty few weeks ago, when one of the barista’s put on a very dreamy playlist, it sounded just like marshmallow is coming through the speakers. The rest of the day I listened to this band, floating back to the early 90s high on caffeine. Swim Deep‘s sound is indie mixed with dream pop and shoegaze, based in Digbeth, Birmingham, known as B-Town in the indie music scene. While I just started to loop the first album ‘Where the Heaven Are We’ , the second album ‘Mothers’ is already on its way. Swim Deep describes the second album as psychedelic sex music. What would you except when you see this description? This is definitely my type of music, melodic synths and acid house are two of my favourite. Few days later, I found out that Swim Deep are going to perform in their hometown – Birmingham, I know this has got to be real fun.

The day has finally come, Saturday night 17 October, Swim Deep at O2 Institute. I have high expectation for this gig, as I know everyone will go mad for this local Brummie band, supporting by Catholic Action and The Magic Gang. It was my first time seeing Catholic Action, I like their bass line and the singer’s vocal, they remind me a bit of The Strokes. After that, The Magic Gang – I have seen them at Wolf Alice gig last April, they have a solid fan base in Birmingham, every time they walk on the stage, their screaming audience come along which boosts the hype immediately.

Swim Deep started with a few minutes of epic visual arts and lighting, the iconic Swim Deep logo ≈ which is very impressive. Opening with new song Namaste, the energetic pit went nuts as I expected. Swim Deep’s audience is fairly young, I reckon I’m one of the eldest in the pit. Followed by 13 songs from the first and second album, my personal favourites Grand Affection and Fueiho Boogie ,and of course B-Town classics Honey and King City. I truly respect when bands put effort into visual arts and lighting, it created a mental environment for people to jump around, and enhanced the whole live experience as psychedelic music.

As you can see the photos show how amazing the live show was, but words and pictures can’t do justice to their performance. I was excited to see Swim Deep in their hometown, this is definitely one of the best gigs of 2015.

Guest review by Sabrina Fung