Join the Benjamin's Desk coworking community for a special edition of our Friends & Family Friday Happy Hour featuring a live set from international recording artists Like Swimming.
Sponsors
This special event is presented by Benjamin's Desk and 2820 Press with support from DigSin, Fogo de Chao, Yards Brewing Company, Slice Pizza, and neuro.
About Like Swimming
Like Swimming formed in late 2012 with Claes Carlström on vocals and guitar, Ida Hedene on vocals and keys and Petter Wesslander on drums. The three piece band from Sweden forms a blend of whimsical joissance in rythm and melodies and heart breaking sincereness in lyrics and frustration that gives the music an interesting contrast.
In the beginning of 2013 the band recorded their first songs in a cabin out in the woods north of Stockholm. The songs immediately got them a record deal with the american label Digsin, which released Like Swimmings first single, “God Knows”, in May the same year. The single premiered on the american arts and culture magazine Blackbook and got attention amongst various indie blogs in the US. The second single, “Go Buffalo”, was released in August 2013. It was recorded and produced by Lennart Östlund (ABBA, Ramones, Led Zeppelin, Cardigans, etc) and mixed by Brian Malouf (Michael Jackson, Brian Wilson, Queen, Pearl Jam, Madonna, etc).
“Go Buffalo” created a buzz around the band in media. MTV Buzzworthy described it as “our latest obsession”, Rockmafia called it “probably the most upbeat, morbid song you’ll hear all year” and USA Today wrote: “Swedish band Like Swimming crafts sweet and bouncy indie pop tunes that pair well with sprinklers and sunscreen.” UK based music website Sound of Confusion wrote: “So, if you’d be so kind, could you point people in the direction of ‘Go Buffalo’ and Like Swimming in general so they can hear how catchy, radioready, irresistible and the commercial music can be made in a way that doesn’t rely on the same horrible tricks and the same songwriters and producers for every bloody artist.”
Like Swimming followed up the single with a USA tour in October, playing at the Culture Collide Festival in LA, the CMJ Music Week in NYC and a couple of other shows in Nashville and Chicago. The band also recorded a session on music blog Daytrotter. Daytrotter later rated the song “Let Go” one of the 50 best songs that year, 26 out of 4800 songs.
In late December 2013 Like Swimming entered the RMV Studio in Sweden, recordin more songs for 2014 together with the studio manager Linn Fijal, who has an extensive client list including The Hives, Kate Ryan and swedish singer songwriter Lars Winnerbäck, swedish Jazz guru Nils Landgren and swedish indie pop princess Frida Hyvönen. The collaboration with Brian Malouf from “Go Buffalo” is planned to continue on these recordings as well.
2014 has been a great year for the band, starting of with the mega festival SXSW and the release of their first EP, with brand new song Let Go as title track. In September, the trio released a full length album, ‘Structures.'