The Swirlies- Better than Shoegaze
The Swirlies sound like the sunshine kicking in your door- an aggressive happiness that drags you into the light. The reviews I’ve looked up online often describe them as a Shoegaze band which crosses My Bloody Valentine and Sonic Youth, but that isn’t right. I’m not sure “Shoegaze” is even the correct first frame of reference to use for this band. There’s definitely Sonic Youth in there- their first EP certainly sounds pretty Sonic Youthy:
Once you get to their first full length, 1993’s Blonder Tongue Audio Baton, you immediately hear something much more distinctive and visionary. The biggest mark of Sonic Youthism after this point are the soaring, orgiastic riffs which serve as the louder side of the band’s quiet-loud dynamic (although the Swirlies never get all that quiet). There’s some My Bloody Valentine in there too, although it’s more audible in how the vocals are sewn into the overall sound, than in the Swirlies’ overarching philosophy. I’ll talk more about the second album, but give the track “Jeremy Parker” a listen, if you play any track from this scribbling:
A wonderful example of how to turn dissonance into beauty! Of course, this kind of transmutation of the harsh into the transcendent has been a thing since Glenn Branca, but there’s something more Bostonian to how the Swirlies go about it. You hear a citrus joy, a sincere bright-yellow-sun happiness behind the strange twists and turns of the music, maybe more Pixies in attitude than Sonic Youth. Or more Fugazi? I dunno man. By this point, the Swirlies are doing something that can’t be reduced to specific influences.
(I do think you can hear Fugazi influence in how they arrange their songs). I think the citrus feeling of their music also indicates some Guided by Voices inspiration.
So my final verdict? The Swirlies are not so much a Shoegaze band, as they are an American guitar band with Shoegaze influence. I suppose their second full-length has more a wobbly MBV sound. Still, I think we’re listening to an American rock band here, one more gripping than most of their British Shoegaze cousins:
An innovation present on their first LP, really blossoming on their second, is the band’s narrative disruption. The Swirlies write great songs, but they’re random, and yet coherent? Their compositions twist and turn, and I don’t think you’d be able to guess where they’re gonna go at the start of each track- and yet, they’re never jarring, always seductive. On San Cristobal de las Casas, you see the harsh-yet-beautiful-and-joyful (is there a German word for that?) spirit of the band pushed to the edge:
If anything, this kind of arranging reminds me of Disco Inferno, yet coming from a much different angle:
A lot of early experiments with twist-and-turn songwriting came out of efforts to synthesize rock/pop and electronic music, with DI being an important example of that. Swirlies sort of are like this, although they’re much more down-home gear freaks than punks turned electronic producers. Really, they achieve this end through channeling the chaotic potential of the American rock tradition, more Zappa than Krautrock.
Let’s put on one more excellent track for good measure:
FFO: Sonic Youth, Fugazi, Guided by Voices, Stereolab, Built to Spill
