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Sex Swing are the British underground supergroup that shouldn’t even exist. One member has survived a plane crash. One has survived (and won) a chess/boxing match against an opponent with the (entirely deserved) nickname ‘The Finnish Hammer’. Another has survived being struck by lightning. And one has even survived jumping out of a moving train straight into an industrial trouserpress full of cobras. (Actually we made the last one up, but the others are 100% true.)

But survive they did, to bring you an album which is like a heady combination of Suicide, Joy Division, The Thing, Brainticket, Motorhead, Harmonia and “Third-era Portishead tweaking on brown acid” (according to Clash magazine).

For those of you yet to have the pleasure, Sex Swing comprises Tim Cedar (keyboards), formerly of Ligature, who fronts Part Chimp and runs Dropout Studios in Camberwell; Jason Stoll (bass), a member of both Liverpool psych champions Mugstar and Bonnacons of Doom while also running God Unknown Records; Colin Webster (sax) is involved with a plethora of free jazz projects (including Dead Neanderthals) and releases many of them through his Raw Tonk label; Dan Chandler (vocals) sang in the masterful Dethscalator and Stu Bell (drums) played in the same and Gin Palace, while newest addition Jodie Cox (guitar) currently also plays with Seattle drone metal overlords Earth.

The LP is a rising epiphany of carnal sonic force that spangles one into submission by dint of its gleeful and cleaving weight, the record places the band at the forefront of the darkest and heaviest end of noisy avant psych. Imagine some hellish pan dimensional Krautrock marching band clad in ill fitting, bong water and Buckfast splattered, suits fronted by David Yow, conducted by a wildly inebriated Conny Plank and waved along by Jus Oborn and Dik Mik and you’re still not quite there. This is music that doesn’t so much ebb and flow as trounce and mangle. Boasting a staggeringly, hellishly, loud production job by Joel Eaton, Sex Swing is about primal animal body sonics.

As Quietus editor John Doran states: "When I first saw Sex Swing live it was like diving headfirst into a white hot volcanic vent and then being instantly vapourised by everything true, righteous and sublime about music. After the gig there wasn't even any discussion about it. Luke and I immediately decided we had to put their debut album out."

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Blurring the lines between Psych, drone and indie, the self-titled debut by Sex Swing is indeed a thing to behold. From the opening dirge of 'A Natural Satellite' to follower, 'Grace Jones' there is little rhythm and a lot of distortion. Opting for a lengthy and protracted instrumental breakdown. 'Karnak' is like a bastard child of Joy Division, Viet Kong and Earth, while 'Nighttime Worker' is jagged doom-rock epitomised. A brilliant and destructive outing, full of twists and scary turns.