Beautiful Swimmers announce debut album, Son

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  • We speak to Andrew Field-Pickering and Ari Goldman ahead of their first LP.
  • Beautiful Swimmers announce debut album, Son image
  • Beautiful Swimmers have revealed details of their debut album, Son, due out July 2nd. The DC-based pairing of Andrew Field-Pickering and Ari Goldman have recorded together since 2008. In that time they've put out a string of original records and remixes that combine elements of house, boogie, dub and disco. Field-Pickering has also carved a sideline as Maxmillion Dunbar, releasing an album of kaleidoscopic house called House Of Woo earlier this year. Son will see release through Future Times, the imprint Field-Pickering runs with Mike Petillo (it was our Label of the Month back in February 2011.) The album features a couple of previously released tracks—2009's "Swimmers Groove" and 2010's "Big Coast"—alongside a clutch of new songs which the duo say broaden the Swimmers' musical palette. We caught up with Field-Pickering via email to find out more about the LP (you can also take a sneak peek into the LP's sound via the YouTube player below):
    It feels like this album has been a long time coming. When did you first start working on it, and what's the process been like? It's been cool because although it was a long time in the making, it was very natural. We would spend weeks working hard on it and then get DJ gigs out the wazoo for the next couple months, and sleep on it. When we had the time, we would keep playing with things and get back into a groove of creating songs. Our process is pretty easy to guess, I think: Ari would come over, we'd kick it, and then just spend hours letting it fly in the studio. Around November of last year, I moved a few doors down from Ari, and that of course made things easier. Before, Ari was kind of the idea man, and I was the studio whiz (I live to edit shit, frankly) but I feel like that dynamic changed a little bit by the end of the recording sessions. And then of course, as it usually goes, at the end we had a whirlwind of creativity, which really sealed everything up. For instance, on the track "Spezi," a lot of that was Ari aimlessly jamming on a Yamaha while I was secretly recording him. When he was done fiddling around, I had already chopped it all up. I was like, "Let me show you what I got." And then we freaked the percussion. "No!" came together in one session, right at the end. "Gettysburg," too. Can you tell us about the album's name? We were in Germany, walking around, and I said "son" about something, as I often do. I'm sure people know what I mean already, but "son" is also super typical slang around DC, the perfect one-word response to many, many things. And Ari said we should call the LP that whenever it's done. I had actually been thinking about it as a title when I was making House Of Woo. I was gonna call it that for a while, but I hadn't told Ari. When he offered that idea I was like, "That's it. Obviously we gotta go with Son." Can you describe how the album sounds and feels compared to the Beautiful Swimmers singles? Those singles are from longer ago than I even realize most of the time, and more than anything the rest of the songs on the LP ("Swimmers Groove" and "Big Coast" are included) are extensions of what we started with those. We also opened up what our sound can be, there's a lot of vibes on the album that people might not expect from us. What else have you got in store for Future Times in 2013? We have tunes from some extremely fresh dudes out of Vancouver, House Of Doors and Kineticelectronix, plus the long delayed 12-inch from Steve Moore that went through pressing plant hell. A 12-inch of [album track] "New Balance" with a Maxmillion Dunbar remix on it will be dropping soon, too. That was also delayed. We also have a remix 12-inch coming from Sotofett of the Sex Tags/Wania crew, too. And beyond that… we're keeping it close for now.
    Tracklist A1 No! A2 Spezi B1 Swimmers Groove B2 Running Over B3 Easy On The Eyes C1 New Balance C2 Cool "Disco" Dan C3 Joyride D1 Dream Track D2 Gettysburg D3 Big Coast Future Times will release Son on July 2nd, 2013.
RA