Back in 1994, for many of us in Europe, Swell’s 41 felt like the beginning of something new. We were just coming out of the historic shoegaze era, though we did not fully realize it yet, with bands like My Bloody Valentine, Ride, Slowdive, Chapterhouse and Lush redefining guitar music.
Then Swell arrived and completely blew our minds with 41: music deeply rooted in San Francisco, yet somehow touched by shoegaze as well.
We were lucky without even knowing it. Around the same time, Mazzy Star was reinventing psychedelic rock, Red House Painters was helping shape slowcore, and Swell was creating something entirely its own, somewhere between slowcore, desert rock and shoegaze.
Ironically, 41 reached France and much of Europe late because of poor local distribution, which also led many of us to discover that the previous album, …Well?, was just as beautiful.
We were eventually lucky enough to see Swell live during the 41 European tour, when the band was becoming a true cult phenomenon. French audiences, especially, formed an incredibly loyal fanbase, and they still are today.
Swell forever.
