The Simple Minds revival is in full effect. First The Horrors and now Swimming have released fluorescent, gently psychedelic records with a fat vein of Eighties pop running through them. ‘Ecstatics…’ is more ambitious than ‘Skying’, with fizzy electro, shoegaze and droney noise rock casually tossed into the mix. The heart of the album is ‘Sun In The Island’. Analogue bleepage blends with John Sampson’s catchiest hook, but you’ll cringe at the occasional cod-metal guitar. That’s a recurring problem. Time after time, otherwise good songs are sabotaged by a kitsch naffness. Then again, for a band riffing on the decade that taste forgot, that seems appropriate.
7/10
Words by WILL SALMON
