Ears Wide Open: Night Swims

Kevin Bronson on February 23rd, 2022

0

San Diego-bred Night Swims was born just after the COVID-19 pandemic reared its ugly head. It began as the songwriting project of singer, multi-instrumentalist and arranger Michael Thomas, who later recruited bassist David Savoian and drummer Nathan Atwood to join him the live lineup.

Less than two years later, Night Swims released their debut album, “Idle/Wild,” an expansive collection of atmospheric, AOR-styled rock, lavishly orchestrated and sung by Thomas in world-weary hope. The songwriter holds forth on dreams shattered and realized; restlessness in geography and in spirit; and monsters stared down and slayed. It gets heavy-handed at times but never lacks for passion.

The single “Neverless” is the album’s calling card — a painful reckoning with a past in which Thomas was not living his own truth.

“Idle/Wild,” released Feb. 11, was recorded at Singing Serpent Studios in San Diego with Ben Moore. Besides Savoian and Atwood, Thomas is joined on the recordings by guitarists Luke Blackburn and Reilly Finnegan, as well as Moore, playing synths and midis.

||| Stream: “Neverless”