Swimmer One

Alternative / Indie / Pop

Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Billboard

'They give intelligence a good name, are more windswept than worthy and very, very good' - The Guardian.

'Sublime electronic chamber pop.' - The Herald.

'One of the country's most exciting bands.' - The List.

'We want more. More. More of their wily words, their tender synth fare, their surprisingly colossal pop.' - Plan B

'Electropop marvels.' - Metro.

Swimmer One are Hamish Brown and Andrew Eaton. They spend most of their time together writing pop music in a tiny attic room on the Scottish coastline. Difficult to categorise, and not fitting into any 'scene', the duo's music has been compared to everyone from the Pet Shop Boys and the Associates to the Blue Nile and the Who.

To date Swimmer One have released three limited edition singles, two on their own label Biphonic (We Just Make Music For Ourselves and Come On, Let's Go!) and one on London's Dogbox Records (Largs Hum/Cloudbusting-Lovesong). DJs who have championed Swimmer One include Rob Da Bank, Steve Lamacq, Mark Radcliffe, Vic Galloway, Gill Mills (BBC Radio One), Jim Gellatly and John Kennedy (XFM) and Gideon Coe (BBC 6 Music). All three of the band's singles have received enthusiastic reviews at home and abroad. An album, The Regional Variations, will be released in September 2007.

Hamish is a musician, producer and committed hard-worker who, as well as having played in various bands, has written the music for films about Samuel Beckett and Scottish Ballet and recorded the score for an existential clown show about cannibalism and polar exploration. Andrew is a singer-songwriter whose music, before Swimmer One, found its way into one guitar band, one cabaret act, one play and one short film, but mostly into his cupboard.

While not recording music, Swimmer One have performed in the UK and Italy with the theatre company Highway Diner, and made a series of short films with the artist Daniel Warren, which have been screened at film festivals in Cannes, Naples, Chicago, Zurich and Edinburgh, a collaboration which won two awards and led to a longer film commissioned by Scottish Ballet and the National Galleries of Scotland. They also run an independent record label, Biphonic Records, which in 2006 released the debut album by Luxury Car.

What other people have said about Swimmer One:

'A glorious duo who manage to combine the occasional blip, bleep, synth and machine drum with some of the warmest melodies and heartfelt lyrics around, Infectious and articulate.' The List

'Sounds like the Divine Comedy dabbling with mellow techno - in a good way. Definitely something VERY interesting going on here.' Playlouder

'Terrific. A little bit Elbow, a little bit Pulp, a little bit the Blue Nile, a little bit The Who, even. I keep saying that there's so many people out there doing interesting stuff. I wish we could play more of it.' Mark Radcliffe.

'Intelligent experimental pop with quite lovely melodies.' Scotland on Sunday

'The KLF are jealous, Death in Vegas more so. How, I wonder, can they fail to rule the universe?' Unpeeled

'One of the best debut outings I've heard in a long while. Very smart stuff indeed.' Losing Today

'The missing link between Pulp and the Chemical Brothers, Swimmer One are making some of the most exciting sounds to come out of Scotland at the moment.' Jim Gellatly, XFM Scotland

'(Swimmer One) fit effortlessly in the upper echelons of Scottish music.' Logo magazine

'A perfect piece of pop.' Leeds Music Scene

'A pulsating manifesto for unglamourised electronic pop.' Take Your Medicine

'A supreme example of old school electro pop, huge fun, and very impressive.' I Really Love Music

'Swimmer One are kind of like Belle and Sebastian twiddling knobs and hanging out with the Pet Shop Boys. Perfectly poppy indie electronica with melodies to warm a crooked heart. Really they are quite lovely indeed.' Ballroom Favourites

'The most suave act on the block - Sublime.' Is This Music

'Hey music, I remember you! Swimmer One hail from Scotland, have an album out in the near future, and appear to be fantastically good. ' To Hell With

'Brilliant. A fizzing electro-pop nugget that simmers with insanity.' High Voltage