Glide & Swerve’s cloud-gazing electronica is the perfect companion to 2009’s summer adventures. Mining a similar path to Lemon Jelly, Ultramarine, and Zero 7, the duo’s debut album, ‘Bring Back Love’, is a beautifully crafted long-player brimming with horizontal beats, pastoral melodies, and Balearic goodness.
Ivan's musical journey began in 1988 with the arrival of the club scene; working as a DJ with legendary greats including Derek B, Tony Wilson and Carl Cox and making appearances at Dark Side of the Moon, Pacha and Genesis parties.
Glide & Swerve, began life in Hong Kong as a production outfit and promoters of the island’s most infamous parties (often 2 day affairs which attracted international travelers, ex-pats, and Hong Kong Chinese alike). In addition to the DJs they’d fly in, Glide & Swerve would perform live alongside several vocalists, occasional dance troops, musicians, and a video artist who would create live backdrops on a 40 foot canvas behind the band.
Upon returning to the UK, G&S began working on their own material and remixes for other artists. They released tracks and mixes for the likes of Pacha, Seamless, and 852, before recently signing with top indie imprint, Gung-Ho! Recordings, the home of The Japanese Popstars, Burn The Negative, Zoo Brazil, Petter & The Pix, Gus Gus, and more.
If electro pop is the current sound of Saturday night Britain, then ‘Bring Back Love’ is the soundtrack to a Sunday afternoon spent in ‘recovery’. Forthcoming single, ‘And I Smile’, is one of the album’s vocal tracks, and is currently being played by specialist radio shows including that of French whiz, Laurent Garnier.
Elsewhere, the album crosses downtempo beats (‘Inner Dub’), with dub (‘Falling’ and ‘The Journey Back’), quirky lounge (‘The Last Stand Of Mr Dann’), and psychedelic breakbeat (‘Here & Now’). Soundtrack-style moments such as ‘Lara’s Song’, sit neatly with the broken rhythms of ‘Feel It’, while tracks such as ‘Pure’ and ‘This Is Yours’ show Glide & Swerve can also take the tempo up a notch with ease.
