Robert O’ Connor and his producer Gareth Shortland spent two years assembling ‘Swimming Against The Tide.’ Inspired by the music he loved from the 80s, 90s, and 00s, O’Connor has experimented with various sub-genres within pop for this album, and the heavy EDM influence is clear. He says that the process of creating it was like revisiting chapters of his life musically. The ten-track album includes two covers and six self-written compositions.
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Swimming Against The Tide – Track By Track
Swimming Against The Tide – PTI – ‘Head Turner’ – ‘Mysterious Times’
The album opens with ‘Head Turner’, a disco inspired, lively track that anybody can dance to. The track opens with high-strung synth and a steady beat backs it, building and slowing. O’ Connors voice lays atop the instrumental, singing peppily about someone who does not even know that they turn heads.
‘Summer Is Waiting’ flows easily from the previous track. While relatively pared down in terms of instrumentation, this song is still something one could dance to. The track promises that summer is right around the corner, and when it comes, we will be warmer. With lyrics such as “You know i’ve been feelin it too. So I know how you’re dealin… now I’m always blue, but I know that I’m healin”, the track itself contains the promised warmth.
‘Something Strange’, true to its name, takes on a more haunting sound as it begins. But it flows easily into the same upbeat drum-synth combo. ‘Mysterious Times’ opens with layered vocals, with O’ Connor pondering life and time. The beat builds momentum slowly, as does the synth about a minute into the song. It feels as though they alternate, the beat and the synth, and the moments in which both come together are meticulously produced.
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Swimming Against The Tide – PTII – ‘Hard Rain’ – ‘What A Time To Be Alive’
‘Hard Rain’ opens with sweeping, melodious synth. This track tinges with desperation and the desire to escape. The layered vocals make you feel trapped, emphasizing the desperation. ‘Everything You Wanted’ has a distinct 80s vibe, and the eclecticism of choices, tied together by upbeat pop overtones, makes this album so unique and enjoyable. The track remains simple, with themes of longing. The echoing vocals emphasize the idea of desire, of looking at someone who has gotten everything they’ve wanted with desire and jealousy.
The vocal layering in ‘Trick Of The Night’ is brilliant. There is the main vocal, singing the lyrics; but you can’t pay attention to them without also paying attention to the haunting, almost creepy backing layer whispering the same lyrics in its echoey fashion. ‘Love Remains’ starts off more mellow than any other track on the album. But it builds quick, with O’ Connor singing about a long-term relationship in which many things have died and faded, with the couple on the verge of calling it quits; yet the love remains.
‘What A Time To Be Alive’ is a banger. Full of current references, such as reality TV and social media, the song is nostalgic and dreamy — he misses the old days, and the way things used to be. This song perfectly concludes an album influenced by nostalgia for the music of the recent past.
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Can't pretend I'm the protagonist without the right track playing in the back.
