Swallow – Blown

4AD

Swallow were a hazy echoplex bouquet of textural guitar and submerged vocals. A This Mortal Coil production that was very dreamy, nostalgically tinged, brilliantly offset by the greaseproof-covered meat and infra-red grained cumulus of the cover.

I knew I’d love this even before listening and when played its bleached-out summery disposition wove quite a spell, blistered with unexpected alt-pop moments that ear-wormed in the there and remained. So glad to see this back in print coupled with its reworked cousin Blowback (which I think I love/d even more).

Now, often remastering goes unnoticed, a too-subtle shift of dynamics; but I’ve got to say 4AD have done a fantastic revisit to the material that not only stays true to the original, but expands the palette even further when I compare it to the CD copy I bought back in the summer of ‘92. The instrumental side of things seems more balanced, has a deeper foundation and more importantly Louise Trehy’s vocals are pushed higher in the mix, her vocal range lushly expanded. Each track seems bigger, more complex, the sugar-coated violence even more dynamic. The serrated power of Mike Mason’s guitar work razors a satisfying duality, and “Lacuna”’s burn is especially epic.

Everything feels more layered, reactively swimming around the seductive glow of Trehy’s voice, your eye caught in the sheerness of those Picasso blue legs of the inlay. “Ocean”’s little girl lost, with its softly barded romanticism and teetering melodics cusping a heightened oblivion. “Cherry Stars Collide”‘s darkly stalked chromatics curling that rotary-roasted refrain. The hex-like intensity of “Head In A Cave” less gauzed, its jilted shimmer throwing up close and personal, and that kitchen-knife shine of off-kiltered guitar at its exit given more bite.

Bonus wise it’s nice to see an unreleased gem in the shape of “Blow”. Heaven knows why it wasn’t included on the original as that orchestrated gravitas is a total killer, sit up in your seat Bond movie thematic that totally rocks. The vocal version of “Love Sleep” is also nice to hear, but is slightly eclipsed by the magnitude of the previous.

Back in the day, band dissatisfaction with the album’s mix led to a radical rework of Blow’s contents. A re-shaped eight track mini-album entitled Blowback was the result originally released in the autumn of ‘92, a reimagining whose atmospheric strangeness is further enhanced by this redux. This remarkable piece of work blooms plenty, its splintering counterpoints and hypnotic atmospherics feel more kinetic, gesturally leap that little bit richer as that effects-coated voice is caught in the seeded serenade of pared-back chords and melodic intersperse.

The warped reveries of “Oceans And Blue Skies” flourished in subtle electronic and needling piano lines, emboldened by undershot synth; the feathered otherworldliness of “Head In A Cave” flickering in reversed vocal cut-ups and revving feedback – the crystallised details, curving into the abstracts of an insect’s rub. The betweens feel more couriered, cohesive, the space more energised.

Certain bits still sound the same: “Peekaboo”’s dub-chambered lightness still feels as sun-shot as before, encapsulated by Hawaiian-like tapers and a plastic box-like percussive / vocal cooing that still floors me. The swirling ambience of “Sugar Your Mind” feels more like a breeze-caught apparition rising to this grumbling rub of guitar curving softly into a sweetly kissed purr.

The album’s strung-out flavours really sparkle, and the dark-jewelled luminosity of “Cherry Stars Collide” that ends this deluxe shebang never tasted better. Hats off to you 4AD; I already have both albums, but this remastering makes me want to buy it all again.

-Michael Rodham-Heaps-