Swim Deep on longevity, legacy, and new album 'Hum' • Interview • DIY Magazine

The path to Swim Deep’s fifth album, ‘Hum’, has been far from linear. “I think it’s fair to say that, by now, Swim Deep’s not a fling; it’s a long-term relationship”, smirks leader and co-founder Austin Williams. Never quite replicating the dizzy success that followed 2013 debut ‘Where The Heaven Are We’, the frontman has had to shift focus from stardom to substance, an aim for legacy status rather than flash-in-the-pan moment.

“I think, after five albums, I don’t know what kind of expectations you have,” he offers up today, a few weeks ahead of ‘Hum’’s release. “I guess we’re not a band where you can just put stuff out and people hear it. We have to really cross all our fingers and toes and hope for the best. You do get a bit worn down by it all, but I try and block it out a bit now. I’m really trying to be more present.”

To get to five albums as an independent band is no mean feat, with all working day jobs alongside the band. Not only that, but Austin has recently become a father for the second time, members have come and gone, and the wider music landscape shifts have lead to a world that’s almost alien to the one which fostered those early days. “We’re not trying to look back too much; we’re not trying to reinvent the wheel because it feels more and more impossible to do that,” Austin posits. “There’s a quote about ‘the slow cancellation of the future’ by Mark Fisher, which is basically saying nothing can be shocking anymore. The last thing that really shocked me was dubstep, and that was ten years ago.

“I think with Swim Deep,” he adds, “our records have always felt like a rebellion or a reaction. ‘Mothers’” - the band’s psych-infused second album - “is the biggest example of that reaction to the first record and wanting to reinvent ourselves, wanting to distance yourself from a record made two years prior; I don’t think we have that anymore.”

While it’s almost inevitable to yearn for times past, Austin is happier with the band and their output now than at any previous point - something aided by the presence of producer and collaborator Bill Ryder-Jones. 2024’s ‘There’s A Big Star Outside’ evidenced a band content to create the enveloping dream-pop that was, really, their natural musical home.

“We found a sound on ‘Big Star’ that we love so much and we feel represents the whole Swim Deep machine or whatever it is. So, in general, I don’t think we’re trying to be shocking and be different. We collectively knew that we were just going to get straight back into it; there wasn’t a talk about what the sound should be.”

“After five albums, I don’t know what kind of expectations you have.”

— Austin Williams

‘Hum’, then, is a continuation of a wide-reaching, heartfelt palette that spans starry-eyed ‘70s folk-pop (‘I Keep Her Photograph With Me’), Britpop-esque balladry (‘Broken’), and unctuous blues-rock (‘The Throw’, ‘Mud’), coalescing to create an ode to connection, grief, and unwavering commitment to the dream.

For every positive moment, there are experiences which push Austin off-balance, a recent interaction at his day job providing one such moment. “Someone came in and said ‘oh you’re Austin, right? You were in Swim Deep? Have you thought about making music again?’. On the one hand, how amazing is it that he’s recognised me from presumably 2014 when he last heard anything we’d done? On the other, artists always want to be present and in the zeitgeist. I guess I’d have to sacrifice something to create a viral moment or something, and I’m not willing to do that.”

The rollercoaster ride that is Swim Deep might not have always been forgiving, but it has certainly opened up avenues that Austin could never have predicted, with the band recently playing a run of shows in Thailand and China, both apparently fertile ground for British indie.

“We’ve toured [in Asia] a few times and each time it just feels magic; it feels like quite a healthy landscape that the music’s in right now, there’s a lot of funding going into live music there. I mean, the first time we played Hong Kong was in 2014: it was literally just like an Italian restaurant in Hong Kong where they pushed the tables out of the way and we played in there! Now we get to play to bigger rooms and proper venues - I just love it out there.”

“If I had choice between ‘Hum’ going #1 for a day or loads of people hearing it over the next 10 years, I’d choose the latter in a heartbeat.”

— Austin Williams

Many of the bands that grew up around Swim Deep have either exploded and hit the big time - the most obvious example in Wolf Alice - or fizzled out, not being able to sustain passion for an endeavour which, ultimately, wasn’t financially viable. Austin, though, holds onto the central tenet of his songwriting; he’s not doing it for other people, he’s doing it for himself. “If I think back to why people liked us in the first place, at that point we didn’t have a fan base to write music for, so I was literally writing for myself and my friends.

“But I think that one of the reasons we’re still going is our fan base has been so good to come back whenever we need to live and play and do all that tangible stuff. Just as I’m feeling like, ‘Fuck, how can I sustain this anymore?’, someone will say something at a gig that our carrying on means so much to them, and it will be enough for another album!”

So while this latest offering may not threaten the charts, that’s not really the point. While, of course, the lads wouldn’t turn it down, they’re more than happy to continue making music that, primarily, they’re proud of.

“I’d love loads of people to hear it, but if I had choice between it going #1 for a day or loads of people hearing it over the next 10 years, I’d choose the latter in a heartbeat,” he nods. “I’m really proud of the record and I think it cements the Swim Deep Sound. It feels like we’re really doing something.”

‘Hum’ is out now via Submarine Cat.

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