For their latest, Philly’s Swim Camp moves at a brisker pace than we’ve come to expect from them in the past. Led by singer-songwriter and home-recording aficionado Tom Morris, the band has made a name on the DIY scene from pensive and deeply introspective songs that hum and murmur, probing the dark corners and unsettling beauty of our psyches. The new “Dougie (For Sharyl)” finds Morris leading Swim Camp from a bright beginning to a fuzz-rock refrain and back, dipping and diving across a runtime just short of two minutes.
“This song is about developing a codependent friendship with someone who is not good for you,” Morris explains in a press release. “They support you, but enable bad behavior. Ultimately this ends up being bad for everyone involved. I recorded this song to tape in a cabin in the poconos after my friend Sharyl heard the demo and insisted that it become a fully realized song, so it is largely for her.”
“Dougie” is the latest taste of Steel Country, Swim Camp’s latest album, which was largely recorded in those Poconos sessions, with some tracks produced by Mark Watter at Headroom Studios. The album releases on February 24th via Julia’s War Recordings, the label run by Doug Dulgarian from They Are Gutting A Body Of Water, who enthuses on Instagram that “Tom makes very special music. It hits that spot.”
There doesn’t appear to be a preorder link for Steel Country at the moment, but you can listen to “Dougie (For Sharyl)” below and keep an eye on Swim Camp’s Bandcamp for more.