MP3 Swelter - Songs of Distance

Extremely tasteful, melancholic guitar pop

11 MP3 Songs in this album (39:15) !
Related styles: POP: Garage Pop, ROCK: Lo-Fi

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Details:
Extremely tasteful, melancholic guitar pop, that's how Dutch music magazine Oor described the music of indie band Swelter after seeing them in concert.

What takes most band years, Dutch indie band Swelter managed to achieve in its first year of existence; performing on big stages for large audiences through a series of high profile gigs supporting such luminaries as The Frames (IE), The Veils (UK), Cracker (USA) and Bettie Serveert (NL). No mean feat, especially bearing in mind that all this happened without an album release. These series of gigs made Swelter not only a hot and much in demand live act. It also resulted in exposure in the (Dutch) national press and airplay on the main national radio stations such as 3FM and KinkFM.

With their debut album 'Songs of Distance' Swelter aims with personal lyrics and timeless melodies at the serious pop-music-lover. On and off the band worked on this record in various Dutch studios for about a year. Friends added tasteful contributions on mellotron, accordion, Hammond organ and grand piano. Belgian studio wizard Werner Pensaert (known from his work with amongst others Manic Street Preachers and Johan) mixed the record in The Motor Music Studios (Admiral Freebee, Zita Swoon etc.) and the next step, the final mastering of the album was done by the very capable and also Belgian, Uwe Teichert a studio ace whose credits include Nova Star and Deus.

'Songs of Distance' is an honest album, full of personal melodic songs. With lyrics touching on subject matters such as, how, bit by bit, we lose the capability of really communicating with each other, about misunderstandings, about fear, about estrangement on a personal level as well as in society, about circumstances that people don't know how to handle anymore. That is the leading thread running through the album. Song-writer Bart Drost likes to lose himself in his characters.

As in the partially true story of 'The Strain We're Under'. A man suddenly stops going to work, stops answering the door, doesn't pick-up the phone and doesn't respond to e-mails. No communication or signs of life whatsoever. A worried police officer, who manages to reach the man's balcony, is being told in no uncertain terms to get lost. He wants to be left in peace. All alone in his room, he is finishing 'The Strain We're Under' a book in which he explains to the outside world his thoughts and views on modern life and in which he invites humanity to follow his example.

CoraZong Records, according to UK magazine Maverick a treasure chest to pour your heart into, immediately fell for Swelter's grown-up Indie-Pop. At a glance a surprising signing as the label has a strong reputation as a home for quality roots music. But digging deeper, it is obviously a very logical choice because the label's criterion is real music, performed by real musicians and music straight from the heart. In all these areas Swelter's score is five out of five.

For tour dates, lyrics and more information, please check www.swelter.nl

Swelter is:
Bart Drost: vocals, guitar, harmonica
Erik Delobel: guitar
Gelke Boontje: violin, keyboards, vocals
John Zoet: bass, vocals
Otto de Jong: drums