night swimming

a cathartic release

by bella berry

Released december - 2024

On October 24, 2024, I was able to see Night Swimming live in Paris at SuperSonic. The southern english band produced a sound so dreamy and ethereal that it received its well deserved praise from the audience. A month after the show (their first ever abroad), they released their new EP entitled “No Place To Land”. The album is perfect for simultaneously quieting the mind and stimulating it, with its pedal-heavy, slow guitar, graceful, feminine vocals, and its fast, prominent drums. I was able to speak with the band’s lead singer, Meg Jones, and find out more about the band and the inspiration behind their music.

Long-time friends who met in university, Night Swimming have been making music together for almost four years now. The band consists of Meg, Sam Allen (guitarist), Torin Moore (drummer), Josh Nottle (bassist), and Jesse (guitarist). Each member of the band has been making music for most of their lives. “I really can't imagine not making music”, Meg admitted. “I really enjoy being able to turn things that I struggle with in my life into something that I think is beautiful because then it feels like it was worth something”.

It seems that the band’s song writing process has a lot to do with releasing their emotions. When speaking about their most recent single (which later became a part of No Place To Land), Meg revealed that Five Year Plan is their most meaningful song to date.

“We wrote that one a couple of winters ago when a few of us were going through some similar, quite difficult life events and I think that one was just a really cathartic one to write and to release”.

Meg also said that an honorary mention could be Warmer, another song on the new EP. “That ones a really old Night Swimming song and I think it was one of the first ones that we really felt proud of.”.

Sonically, the band is heavily inspired by Dream Pop music, citing Cocteau Twins and Beach House as their idols. Additionally, Meg stated that their songwriting is “inspired by quite a lot of different genres like folk and trip pop and even dub.”. Meg has a background in classical music as well, which has its own effect on their sound.“I use quite a lot of falsetto in our songs as well which isn't heard frequently in modern music”.

One of the band’s main challenges is replicating the exact sound that they are able to record in-studio on the stage. Their recording process is much easier for them because they are “able to add layers that we might not be able to add so easily in a live setting.”.Still, they are determined to do what they can to get the sound just right. “We got an SPD recently, so we're hoping to be able to get some of the sounds and effects that we can get from recording and bring that into our live performances as well.”

However, the thrilling feeling that one gets when performing live cannot compare to recording. “The best part of performing is the release of emotion that you get from playing in front of a live audience and it's always so cool to hear that afterwards some people have connected with the songs as well.”. Meg said.

Night Swimming is a truly unique band that is definitely worth the listen. They bring so much of what people loved about dream pop and shoegaze in the 90s and 2000s (a time I think we all yearn for every now and then) and mix it with the magic of modern music tools and sounds. The band has solidified their place in today’s world of music and continues to do so with every performance and newly released song.