Live: Swearin' at Mercury Lounge 9.10.12

photo stolen with apologies and not from Mercury

Looks like Swearin' are blowing up, as the interwebs tell me they have transcended the blogosphere and good old word of mouth and are currently getting space in the New York Times about their new release. Kudos to them, even if they have upped and moved to Philly on us. Oddly enough, that move has precipitated an inordinate number of local shows of late. This gig was the opening slot of an early show and at Mercury, a perfect storm of awesome for this old man that had me gladly paying full price to leave after the first band.

Between the first EP and their new full-length, Swearin' have the perfect set for an opener and made the most of it, blazing through a half hour or so of the best of those releases. The better than usual PA gave a little more shine to Kyle's songs this time around, but everything about this set was pretty great. The touring is definitely paying off, at least when it comes to the foursome getting tight as all hell. Swearin' is obviously a band firing on all cylinders. See them with Tenement later this month in Brooklyn, at Cameo the week after, and look for them out with Japandroids in November.

R

Swearin' - s/t

Swearin' may very be my favorite new band. They've got the hooky boy-girl jangle rock thing going on that has been really hitting home at JS-NYC HQ, rock that is equal parts David Gedge and Kim Deal. I've seen a decent amount of their local shows and even the most oblivious of fans has to have noticed they've been filling larger and larger rooms  Their first EP What A Dump got a lot of spins at JS-NYC HQ and it was with much rejoicing six months on that news of this eponymous LP came down the pike.

Vinyl for Swearin' comes courtesy of your friends at Salinas Records and those that operate in the strictly digital domain can check out their Bandcamp presence. Twelve songs appear on their debut full-length, with the aces Kenosha and Crushing reappearing from the EP. The ten new songs are pretty aces as well, with Here To Hear and Movie Star topping the list. Looks like we are losing the band to Philly, but those of us that want to love a local hero should step lively here and here to get a piece of their rock while they still have NYC roots.

R

Swearin' - What A Dump

I saw Swearin' play the Little Lungs show at Death By Audio the other night and thought they sounded like pretty a decent prospect to drink beer and rock to this summer. They sounded a lot like PS Eliot to these ears, just with a bunch of dudes backing this time. I picked up What A Dump after their set and it appears that it is indeed Allison from P.S. Eliot handling most of the vocals. The other guy who sings a bit is evidently named Kyle and used to play in a band called Big Soda that I've never heard. Not sure of the provenance of the other two gents.


What A Dump is six short sharp songs, only once nosing past the two and a half minute mark and mostly rounding it down toward the two minute end of things. Swearin' make the most of the time, matching Pavement-approved indie guitar with some Kristen Hersh/Mary Lou Lord vocal flavor. It's good. Really good, actually. I'd say Kenosha is probably my favorite, but Snag and the title track are pretty aces as well. Either way, you can check What A Dump out at pay what you will pricing here courtesy of the band and the good folk of If You Make It. Swearin' web presence can be found here.

R