Swearin’ - Fall Into The Sun

Die erste Vorladung (III)

Personalien:

Aus Philadelphia stammt die Band Swearin’, zu der Allison Crutchfield (Gesang, Gitarre) und Kyle Gilbride (Gesang, Gitarre), die auch für das Songwriting verantwortlich sind, sowie Jeff Bolt (Schlagzeug) gehören. 

Der Name Crutchfield mag einem bekannt vorkommen: Allisons Schwester Kate musiziert unter dem Namen Waxahatchee.

Tathergang:

Nach zwei EPs und zwei Alben („Swearin’“, 2012, „Surfing Strange“, 2013) löste sich die Band Anfang 2015 auf, da die Beziehung zwischen Crutchfield und Gilbridge in die Brüche ging. Anschließend war Allison mit Waxahatchee auf Tour und veröffentlichte 2017 ein Soloalbum namens „Tourist in This Town“.

Mittlerweile hat man sich im Hause Swearin’ (zumindest musikalisch) wieder zusammengerauft, auch wenn der frühere Bassist Keith Spencer bei der Reunion nicht mehr mit an Bord ist. „Fall Into The Sun“ heißt das dritte, über Merge Records veröffentlichte Album.

Plädoyer:

Die beiden Garagen, in denen Swearin’ ihre elf neuen Songs herunter geschrammelt und im DIY-Verfahren selbst aufgenommen und produziert haben, stehen in Los Angeles und Philadelphia. Wem Waxahatchee nicht krachig genug ist, wem Weezer zu uncool und sowohl Pixies als auch The Breeders zu alt sind, der sollte es einmal mit „Fall Into The Sun“ probieren.

Zeugen:

Crutchfield's infectious jammer "Grow Into a Ghost" touches on mortality and fear to a propulsive rhythm by drummer Jeff Bolt, and those sentiments are echoed in Gilbride's pensive "Treading." The Breeders-esque "Untitled (LA)," and the Archers of Loaf-y "Stabilize" both meditate on loneliness, on anxiety. These are concerns on the mind of any reasonable human approaching their 30s, and with the benefit of time and perspective, Swearin' is able to unpack them into the best songs of their career.
(NPR)

As a result, the 11 songs that make up Fall into the Sun take on a decidedly more refined and mature feeling than anything from the band's first wave. Themes of time, growth, change, and migration come up repeatedly. Crutchfield's move to Los Angeles from the close-knit Philly punk scene is touched on throughout, from the epic and ruminative album opener "Big Change" to "Untitled (LA)," an anthemic exploration of a cross-country uprooting from the East to the West Coast. Gilbride's songs seem more focused on the ghosts of getting older in one place, but are also approached with a weathered, wizened perspective. Both "Dogpile" and "Treading" simmer in midtempo tension, Gilbride looking at aimless years and restlessness with overly familiar surroundings. Similarly, "Stabilize" rides a slow-burning line, calling on some of the spaciousness that defined Crutchfield's Tourist in This Town as well as recalling the raw, on-edge pop perfection of Superchunk at their most wiry, circa Foolish. In among the slower, more refined fare are plenty of songs that capture the concentrated energy that Swearin' started with. The band's ability to twist seemingly straightforward pop idioms into something weird and interesting is fully intact on bendy, upbeat jammers like "Oil and Water" and the tormented but tuneful "Future Hell." Making smart rock music was never a challenge for the band, but the material here trades in the nervous hooks and urgent emotional reach of earlier material for songs that take their time and take more risks. Crutchfield's melodic sensibilities and Gilbride's enormous punk production were already signature sounds, but expanding on these trademarks in songs about getting older and more experienced makes Fall into the Sun all the more interesting and connective. Without losing any of the energetic fizz of their youth, Swearin' look honestly at their lives moving forward, arriving somewhere vulnerable yet impressively more confident than before.
(All Music)

Indizien und Beweismittel:

Ortstermine:
2.02.2019 Köln – Blue Shell
13.02.2019 Berlin – Badehaus
14.02.2019 Hamburg – Molotow

Urteile: 
Nun sind die werten Richter gefragt…