Melbourne-born SWIM releases Dear Friend today, a sweeping second album crafted entirely alone in a London winter.
Melbourne-born, London-based producer SWIM has spent the past five years quietly building something grand and remarkable.
What started at DIY parties for a hundred people has evolved into sold-out shows at Melbourne’s Forum, Sydney’s Roundhouse and London’s legendary KOKO. His second album Dear Friend arrives today as proof that sometimes the most personal work becomes the most universal.
Written during a creative drought in London, Dear Friend became SWIM’s instinct-driven reset. Distance from home, self-reliance and renewal thread through every track as subsonic bass collides with sweeping strings, garage rhythms and atmospheric vocals. Entirely self-produced and self-released, the album represents a major leap forward for one of Australia’s most compelling independent artists working today.
Melbourne export – SWIM
- What: Dear Friend album release
- When: Friday, 21 November
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Obsessive precision shaped every moment of this record. SWIM went granular, re-pitching and reworking songs until transitions flowed perfectly between tracks. That level of intentionality creates an immersive, cinematic arc that never loses momentum across its runtime. From the haunted stillness of Missing You to the euphoric release of the title track and the blissful rise of Everything You Need, the album moves fluidly between intimacy and exhilaration.
Orchestral elements mark a major creative evolution for SWIM. He personally composed and arranged every string part before recording them with the Budapest Film Orchestra, finally embracing the cinematic scope he’d always admired in other artists’ work. Those strings add epic weight to tracks like Memories, where subsonic bass and garage snares give way to sweeping orchestral climaxes.
Dear Friend explores the tension of discovering somewhere new while longing for what feels familiar. That duality runs through the entire suite, whether in the intimate vulnerability of Be There For You or the expansive emotional release found elsewhere. Five years of non-stop work, Boiler Room performances, European festival slots at Fly Open Air and Pukkelpop, and shows that double in size each time have led to this moment.
SWIM’s relentless curiosity keeps pushing him into uncomfortable territory where the most exciting work happens. In building this record entirely for himself, he’s created something expansive, emotional and unmistakably his own.
Dear Friend is the sound of an artist trusting his instincts completely and emerging with something genuinely special. Take a listen, Melbourne!
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