With the Epic Handshake meme as a template, No Swoon is the meeting of meaty wrists at the end of bulging limbs belonging to the stoned introversion of Beach House and the also-stoned extroversion of Chromatics. The dreamy Brooklyn duo is set to release their first LP’s worth of glammy shoegaze at the beginning of next month, but not without first sharing the 7-indebted third single “Faces.” With early cuts “Don’t Wake Up, Wake Up” and “Forward” coloring somewhat outside the lines established by last year’s EP 1, “Faces” is a comfortable descent into warm reverb.
Yet despite its tranquilized vocals and distant wailing guitar, “Faces” is a track born of an all-too familiar alienation associated with city life. “[It’s] about floating through a crowded city feeling disassociated from the people you see around and how specifically we begin to internalize that alienation,” keyboardist Zack Nestel-Patt explains. “A day living in a city puts us in proximity to an insane number of people… Yet so many of our friends are struggling with loneliness. It’s hard to build and sustain a close community. And in many ways, how we are forced to live in this city specifically makes connecting to folks difficult. The generally cramped apartments we share make it hard to have people over, and the struggle to pay rent make it hard to have income to go out. And this is beyond the general exhaustion so much of us feel from hustling.”
No Swoon is out November 1 via Substitute Scene. You can pre-order it here, and see the band on tour at the dates below.
11/06 – Brooklyn, NY @ Union Pool (NY album release show)
11/08 – Baltimore, MD @ Joe Squared
11/09 – Winston Salem, NC @ Monstercade
11/10 – Asheville, NC @ Odditorium
11/11 – Nashville, TN @ Springwater Supper Club
11/13 – Memphis, TN @ Hi-Tone
11/14 – Kansas City, Mo @ The Rino
11/15 – Lawrence, KS @ Reply Lounge
11/16 – Denver, CO @ Rhinoceropolis
11/19 – Albuquerque, NM @ Launchpad
11/20 – Phoenix, AZ @ Yucca Tap Room
12/08 – Los Angeles, CA @ Echoplex (LA album release show with Nothing, Launder, and Sprain )
