Limited edition EP from delightful Philadelphia band The Swimmers

The Swimmers have put out one of my favorite albums of the year. Except they haven’t actually “put out” just yet. We’re still sweet-talking, trying to coax them into that.

Their delectable debut Fighting Trees is streaming in full over on their website and has been for some time now. This is literate pop, literally. Their music is based on the 1964 short story “The Swimmer” by John Cheever [read about it here]. I find their sound completely irresistible and find myself cueing it up quite a bit this summer.

It is delightful, shimmery fare with rich layers of thumping percussion and chimey harmonies. I hear threads of Wilco and Lemonheads and The Shins, all wrapped up in a fresh and original package. Swimmers frontman Steve Yutzy-Burkey tells me that the group’s proper album should be out locally in the Philadelphia area this fall, and nationally in February or March.

In the meantime, they’ve been selling this limited edition EP at their shows. From what I hear, there’s always a line at the merch booth to pick this baby up — five live tracks and a tasty outtake that’s just as good as anything on the album. You can’t help but enjoy.

THE SWIMMERS EP
Heaven [live]
All The New Sounds [live]
Miles From Our Fears [live]
It’s Time They Knew [live]
Pocket Full Of Gold [live]
The Ocean Lifts Her Dress [outtake]

ZIP: SWIMMERS EP

UPCOMING SHOWS
Sep 3 – Schubas, Chicago, IL
Sep 14 – Tritone, Philadelphia, PA
Sep 15 – Mercury Lounge, New York, NY
Sep 22 – PA’s, Somerville, MA

Also, Tom at Bag of Songs has a few more live tracks at the bottom of this post from radio appearances that The Swimmers have done, including a nice ELO cover.