We recently premiered Los Angeles indie pop band SWIMM’s collaborative track with Lauren Ruth Ward, “You Never Fake It,” and today the band is back with a new single, which is also premiering here. This new track is called “Spring Breaking Your Heart,” which like its predecessor is a slice of innovative, emotionally-driven psych pop.
“Spring Breaking Your Heart,” as the pun-y title would suggest, is based on experiences during spring break in Florida:
“I was trying to tap into the excitement I felt being a student during Spring Break,” said the band’s frontman Cookie (Christopher Hess) in a statement. “As silly as Florida is, I love it, (speaking on beach life/frozen drinks and dancing to Shaggy/less of its sociocultural misgivings) and those weeks in March hold a sacred tacky space in my heart. There is a magic in the ephemera of this season. Spring Break is this cocktail of tourists and locals, baking themselves in tanning oil and hedonistic intent, ready to embrace sand in their sheets and if stars align—some flash in the pan romance. And as quickly as it comes it is gone… giving way to the inescapable heat and humdrum malaise of the Space Coast summer.”
“Spring Breaking Your Heart” has an experimental sound, with sparse arrangements built largely around the vocals. The accompanying video follows a couple, both wearing pale facepaint, one wearing a bald cap and the other a big crimson-colored wig. They walk through memorable Los Angeles streetscapes, including a scene where they pass the former Bob Baker Marionette Theater (including a real estate sign to remind us that it’s moved to Highland Park), frolic and chase birds in McArthur Park, shop at a bodega and run through the LA River. Eventually they discover a room full of partiers reveling in a dark club, their faces also painted with white paint.
“Fitting, I wrote the treatment for this video while still in Florida and approached Mitch DeQuilettes (director of our videos “Windows Up”) to take on the project with me,” said Cookie. “I was honored that he agreed to co-direct this with me and can’t express how much I learned from him in the process. The idea itself came from a picture I saw of the video’s lead, Lexi Noblitt, in which she had assumed this dramatic, almost morose clown character that still exuded sensuality. I could reach and say that perhaps she was the embodiment of Florida Spring Break—a little scary, a little fun, a little sexy, a little scary again—but all in all, the image just struck me immediately and eventually sparked the idea of exploring what artistic partnerships can do for and to people. We brought in our talented friend Alex Nelson to play her counterpart and the chemistry was palpable. By the end, there wasn’t a take that didn’t draw tears from the cast and crew.”
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