Review: Swansgate’s album ‘Becoming Someone’

Swansgate

By Ljubinko Zivkovic, Rock At Night The Netherlands

Review: Swansgate – Becoming Someone-Release date April 29, 2022

As a band, if you are smart and have a vision, coming from a small town can actually be an advantage.

You may be away from the big music centers of the world, but it also gives you the possibility to form your own musical vision, without the pressure of chasing the music trends of the moment. After all, the omnipresence of the internet makes it possible to follow those trends and let you pick up those elements that you think really fit into your music.

One such band is North Carolina’s Swansgate, who do come from a small town, but have now moved to Charlotte. The quartet Stu Draughn – Vocals, keyboards, Michael McKinney – Guitar, keyboards, Gabe McKinney – Bass, Mike Kaloudis – Drums are just coming up with ‘Becoming Someone,’ their new album, and with it, they just might prove their album title right.

Draughn and his bandmates don’t seem to be bothered with strict genre definitions, as they keep on fitting elements of psych pop, beat, grooves, and anything else they seem fit within their music. It is a mash that ranges anywhere between Tame Impala, Coldplay, Radiohead, electro experimentalist like Japan’s Cornelius. Whatever fits at the moment.

Of course, with any such mash there is an inherent danger that it will not amount to much more than a sum of its parts, but Swansgate, seem to be skillfully jumping over that obstacle by making their music quite listenable. One to watch

‘Becoming Someone’ will be released on streaming platforms April 29.

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Ljubinko Zivkovic

Forest Live Festival – UK

Forest Live Festival – UK