Kevin Bronson on August 24th, 2020

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Like a postcard coming to life with a rejuvenating breeze, SWIMM’s new single “Feel Better” is flat-out enchanting, like the empathy that inspired it.

It’s the first original from the L.A. psych-pop quartet since their 2018 album “Sentimental Porno” and the first for an album they have in the works for Sunset Mesa, the new L.A. subsidiary of Australia’s Sweat it Out Records.

The tune started with a demo penned by Chris Hess, who then got together with bandmates Adam Winn, Hany Zayan and Marto Bisists to work with David Davis to flesh out the song and record it at Davis’ studio. It features Danny Echevarria on violins and was mixed by Jules de Gasperis.

“Feel Better” offers a note of comfort to a female friend who had a traumatic L.A. experience. “You hear so much about the clichés of men in Hollywood taking advantage of starry-eyed transplants that you almost think you’ll be numb, or at the least, unsurprised when you see it first-hand,” Hess says. “But when I witnessed it up close for the first time it had a pretty profound effect on me. In other words, it made me sad as fuck.

“I became invested in the story of this woman and wanted to trace things back to the start for her … when her aspirations fueled a very courageous leap of faith. She is one of the most courageous people I know, and this song is my way of reminding her of that and of the chimerical nature of chasing a dream and that, despite what the manipulative fiends of this weird-ass city say, it is OK to slow down and do what you need to do to feel good.”

The timing of the single’s release was not lost on Hess, either. A transplant himself, from Florida, he adds: “Of course, the only thing weirder than L.A. is the year 2020, which has re-contextualized everything. The song has become a makeshift mantra. … It’s important to recognize when, even if only for a moment, we feel better.”

Winn, the band’s co-founder and drummer, directed the beach-set video, which stars Sydney Schafer and was filmed by Dan Sripuntanagoon. “It’s just what I was seeing whenever I closed my eyes and listened to the song,” he says. “Someone running free in a beautiful location, releasing their emotions, leaving it all behind, feeling better … and my wonderful wife and best bud were kind enough to give it a whirl.”

||| Watch: The video for “Feel Better”

||| Previously: Live at Echo Park Rising 2019, live at Love You Down III, “Sentimental Porno,” “True Romance,” “Speak Politely,” “First Time,” “Man’s Man”