Just when you think you have your finger on the pulse of a music scene–something broadsides you and makes you feel like you don’t know nothin’.
So I finally take some time to catch up on my “listening stack”–the records I’m supposed to listen to but haven’t got around to yet–and I come across Double Four Time by Denver alt-rock band The Swayback. It’s a record they released back in July. I’d been hearing the name of this band around town for awhile, so I press play.
By the third song, I’m feeling really, really dumb for not mentioning these guys earlier. Where the crap have I been?
I hear a lot of bands with potential, but it’s a rarity that song after song on a record stirs me up, even on major releases. But that’s what I experienced listening to Double Four Time. Great guitar riffs, solid drum/bass lines, and Eric Halborg has that almost intangible quality with his voice that makes him practically perfect as a frontman.
It’s hard to pin down the band’s sound, mainly because they seem to draw influence from every season of rock from the ’60s to the ’90s. I hear some Beatles in there, as well as some Stones–and I suppose that makes sense given that the band tapped Andy Johns (who has worked with The Rolling Stones, Van Halen, and Led Zeppelin, among others) to produce Double Four Time. But however you categorize them, The Swayback just makes consistent, really good rock & roll. Definitely worth a listen or five.
I honestly had a hard time deciding what to share from the record, but I finally settled on a music video I found for “Die Finks,” and below that an embed for “Steamrolling” from The Swayback’s Bandcamp page. See what you think!
