Ears Wide Open: Swandive

Kevin Bronson on August 7th, 2023

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Swandive are a fresh-faced Los Angeles noise-rock group that most of the time sound like they’re trying out for a early-2000s indie-rock all-star team. They’d make the cut.

The latest in a long line of artists who’ve emerged from Hamilton High’s music program, the band revolves around singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Riley Schmedeman, who’s joined by Sebastian Block, Henry McKenzie, Max Rubin and Elijah Small. They released their debut album, “Standoff at a Yellow Light,” in the spring of 2022. They spent their senior years in high school working on their sophomore effort, “The Lonestar,” which came out this week.

Produced by Ian Ball, “The Lonestar” nods to a post-punk, hardcore, synth-rock and garage, all of which Swandive undertakes with a voracious appetite. Lovers of dissonant, metallic riffs, they mix angular with pretty, calm with caustic. The riffs in lead single “Opposite Day” leave a mark; “Dreamt of You,” with its Riley Evans-directed video, nods to the ’80s with ’90s ragged glory.

The quintet celebrates the release with a show tonight at the Lodge Room.

||| Watch: The video for “Dreamt of You”