Deftly migrating from ramshackle, junkyard beats, to wistful, nylon-stringed folk, Open Swimmer skirts the edges of intellectual pop without ever coming close to falling in. In the title track from their debut album Canyon, songwriter Ben TD invites us to “Imagine you’re standing at the edge of the canyon of all canyons”. With our imaginary toes at the brink of an impossible precipice, he half-asks, half-dares, “Would you relax and let go?”
This feeling of surrender to the expanse saturates Canyon. Latticeworks of melody and found sounds are artfully assembled by Melbourne producer Nick Huggins (Oscar + Martin; The Harpoons; Otouto), whose iconic, patchwork-pop style expertly frames the unvarnished charm of Ben TD’s song-craft. The band’s line-up reads like a hit list from some of Melbourne’s most admired indie alumni: Bec Rigby (The Harpoons), Chris Bolton (Seagull), Aaron Silver (Frankolin) and Peter Emptage (Sweets; Hello Satellites).
