Original SWIM members, Joe Reilly (lyricist/singer) and John McCrea (musician/composer), have reunited for the first time in over thirty years to record a new album, NIGHTSTOCK.
Formed in 1988, the band were quickly signed to MCA RECORDS and recorded an album, Sundrive Road, produced by the renowned Steely Dan producer, Gary Katz.
The album was released to critical acclaim and the band went on to tour with Fleetwood Mac and CHER, amongst others.
The original group disbanded shortly afterwards but released a further single.
This is the first release from the original songwriters and is produced by Ger McDonnell.
Their first single off the highly anticipated new album is ‘Joe’s House’.
Speaking about the process of the song, Joe said: “During the recording sessions for NIGHTSTOCK, the band were experiencing some difficulty with one of the longer pieces on the album and decided to take a break.
“I was flicking through The Paintings of Edward Hopper and the painting, Tony’s House in particular, caught my imagination.
“Within half an hour I had come up with the lyrics for Tony’s House, the song.
“Having shown the lyrics to John, the music was quickly composed and the accompanying keyboard track was recorded in one take.
“The vocals were put down in a few passes and so, Tony’s House appeared within a matter of hours. Ger then added his usual studio magic, et voilà.”
The single ‘Joe’s House’ will be available on all music platforms from this Friday, July 4th.
About Tony’s House the single.
Tony’s House was one of the last tracks recorded by SWIM during the Nightstock sessions.
The band were experiencing some difficulties with one of the longer tracks on the album and decided to take a short break.
Joe was leafing through an Edward Hopper art book when the mysterious mood of one painting in particular captured his imagination. In a matter of minutes, he had come up with the lyrics to Tony’s House.
He passed them over to John who composed the music on the spot. They proceeded to record the track straight away in just a few takes.
Ger then added some drums and additional textures and applied his particular brand of studio magic and within a matter of hours the track was completed.
The band were so delighted with the results that it was added to the album and chosen as the first single.
BIO
Swim were formed in Dublin in the late 1980’s. The band were quickly signed up by MCA Records.
They recorded the album Sundrive Road with the renowned Steely Dan producer Gary Katz which was released to widespread critical acclaim.
They went on to tour with Fleetwood Mac and Cher amongst others.
However, due to the band’s reluctance to continue touring they parted from their record company and went their separate ways shortly afterwards.
Fast forward a few decades and the band’s principal songwriters Joe Reilly and John McCrea decided to collaborate on some new material.
Joe wanted fewer restrictions to express himself lyrically and John had long since lost interest in approaching things from the more usual verse/chorus song structure perspective.
They decided to adopt a more experimental and holistic approach to their songwriting methods and the album Nightstock is the result.
The duo recorded the seven tracks with producer and multi-instrumentalist Ger McDonnell in just a few sessions.
They also worked with videographer George Hogan on videos and artistic design.
The first single Tony’s House is scheduled for a July release and the album Nightstock will be released in Kilkenny on August 14 during the Arts Festival.The band have no plans to play live.
