Yeah, our Cut of the Day tab still isn’t working. That doesn’t mean we can’t post some new tracks we love.

Like most great pop songs, Swim Swam Swum’s “Belly Aches” is rooted in the past. From its opening crunchy guitars to the buzzing keyboard that’s barely audible in the background, almost everything about the song screams 1997. But instead of simply aping the sound of so many past indie rock giants, “Bell Aches” captures the spirit of what made so many of those bands so great in the first place.

Though I’ve enjoyed Swim Swam Swum in the past, the excellent Circumpolar Westerliesis just what I need to hear in month when Weezer released an album with a song called “The Girl Got Hot.” SSS leader Matt Taylor has crafted a hooky, immediate record that’s filled with standouts, but it took me a good four listens just to make it past the fantastic opening track. Yeah, it has some obvious touchstones—love those Return of the Rentals synths floating in and out of so many tracks—but songs like “Belly Aches” aren’t that easy to classify. Taylor’s voice is still yelpy and urgent in all the right ways, but something else is different. It could be the lineup change (drummer Adam Draper has been around for two years, but bassist Courtney Sheedy’s a 2009 addition) or the way so many tracks shift in unexpected directions. Listen closely, because there’s a moment about 2/3 of the way through when everything drops out of the mix except Taylor’s acoustic guitar that just blows me away. For anyone still in denial about Raditude, “Belly Aches” makes everything okay for three minutes.

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Swim Swam Swum release Circumpolar Westerlies on Friday at the Artistery with Deer or the Doe and Point Juncture, WA. 8 pm. $6. All ages.

Link:
Swim Swam SwumSpace

Photo courtesy of Swim Swam Swum

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