Young Band Explores Murky Waters on Debut EP
Guelph is nowhere near the ocean, but in the 21st century, that doesn’t matter. Images of sand, surf, sky, and sex suffuse our landlocked dreams and shape the vistas of our collective imagination. Perhaps that’s why Spring Breakers, Harmony Korine’s 2012 beautiful mess of a feature film, affects me so profoundly, even though I have never set foot in the Atlantic. The beach, where earth, air, and water meet, is a breeding ground for our dreams and nightmares.
This might also explain the impact of Swimmer, the debut EP by local band Beach Bodies, which mines seaside imagery to great effect. Released on their Bandcamp in late March, Swimmer is a record of surprising substance and power. If it was any longer, it might be an ordeal, but at 20 minutes, it provides a potent and memorable high.
Like Korine’s Florida, frontman Jamie Gibson’s Guelph is haunted and dangerous. In his songs, royal city residents drift about like shadows, ensconced in the “glow, draw, and awe” of their personal electronic devices, drunk on longing. His lyrics, surfacing through layers of fuzz and reverb, demonstrate dexterity with cadence, rhyme, and metaphor, and the rest of the band rises to the occasion. Brock Bourgeois’s sinewy bass lines, Matt Morgan’s textural guitar licks, Corben Grant’s blazing synths, and Isaac Grant’s accomplished drumming create a sense of total immersion.
There’s a political bent to these tunes, most explicitly in the pulsing opener “All Perfect and Shimmering,” which attacks the “brand new religion” of social media. But Swimmer never feels preachy. Instead, Gibson evokes moments of personal devastation, like the internecine lovers’ quarrel detailed on the snarling “Vacant.” It’s heavy stuff, but another track, “Mess,” hints at the possibility of transcendent connection through the social static: “Believe in this beautiful mess,” begs Gibson. Listen to Swimmer and you will.