LA-based, Singaporean artist Linying has the title track for her upcoming album Swim, Swim.
Also titled “Swim, Swim,” the title track is a sumptuous blend of dream-pop and jangly, pizzicato guitar. It details the madness of romance and the way a relationship can break down both slowly and all at once.
The lyrics are detailed so you can forget about leaning closer / ‘til you’re on your knees, say it’s over. Linying sings mournfully about a love where time has run out and can no longer be fixed. As Linying sings, "Your hand is a collar that I’d be happy to wear / but I’ll rip it off my neck in a heartbeat," it becomes clear that the relationship she’s singing about has become a cage for everyone in it.
Written while Linying was living on the Filipino island of Siargao and going through a ‘parallel discovery of self and femininity’, the album and the track were also inspired by her personal heartbreak while moving to LA from Singapore.
According to Linying, “by learning to lean into the unpredictable but also wildly beautiful landscape that surrounded me, I developed an intimacy with the part of myself that’s ruled by feeling and desire, after a lifetime of being partial to my rational mind”.
“Swim, Swim” is the first track from Linying’s upcoming album of the same name, and is her first full-length release since There Could Be Wreckage in 2022, on which she collaborated with former Death Cab For Cutie guitarist Chris Walla. On Swim, Swim, Linying worked with longtime collaborators Jon Graber, Brandon Benson, and former Toro Y Moi touring guitarist Jordan Blackmon, as well as avant-jazz composer Spencer Zahn and electronic producer AOBeats.
Swim, Swim will be released on April 4 and is already available to stream on Spotify.
