Influenced by the experimental ambient dream pop of Seefeel and the avant-garde shoegaze rock of My Bloody Valentine, Swimming are a genre-straddling multimedia indie outfit who not only produce and engineer their records, but also design their cover art and direct their promo videos. Naming the band after their weekly routine of rehearsing after a dip at their local swimming baths, lead vocalist John Sampson, drummer brother Pete, guitarist Jonathan Spittlehouse, bassist Blake Pearson, and keyboardist Andy Wright formed Swimming in Nottingham in the mid-noughties. After performing in various clubs across their local circuit, they released their first EP, Pacific Title, and debut album, The Fireflow Trade, through their own Colourschool Records label in 2009. Following a series of innovative "improvised headphone-only" live shows with binaural sound artist Dallas Simpson and a support slot on former Libertines guitarist Carl Barat's European tour, Swimming signed to New York label EVR and, thanks to support from Radio 1, released their first mainstream single, Sun in the Island, in 2011. ~ Jon O'Brien