2023 Albums of the Year #3: Barry Can't Swim, When Will We Land?
Dec. 29, 2023
Some albums you come to one way: a good review on a blog you respect, a track appearing on a playlist by someone whose taste you trust, etc and so on. And sometimes you get directed to something multiple times. This is what happened to me this year with the irrepressible “When Will We Land?” by Barry Can’t Swim. Anyway, tracks by “Barry” appeared in mixes a lot this year and the album kept popping up in eagerly anticipated lists.
I’ve listened to this album a lot but I still have questions. Like is “can’t swim” his last name? Was he not made to learn in detention at lunchtime in the school’s outdoor pool in an English April like yours truly?!
The album starts with the title track, a nice minimalist piece that is nearly “not dance music” in the way that so many opening tracks on dance albums are. It puts me in mind of Steve Reich played by Bonobo. The next track “Deadbeat Gospel” is an impromptu rap by an old school friend while on a night out sampled and cut to fit the beat, it’s pretty cool but I’m glad it’s near the beginning so I can skip over it if I’m not feeling it.
Bonobo seems to be a good template for describing what follows - a lot of tasteful soulful tracks with some nice samples cut and paste all over the place. It’s always true that the best dance albums are the ones that use samples in the best ways. The strength of “Deadbeat Gospel” is not the treatment of the rap, but the way it’s beautifully juxtaposed with the choir and vocal samples.
The best dance music uses every element to keep you moving (even if it’s just nodding your head while you wait for the bus) and Barry Can’t Swim doesn’t shy away from using every trick in the book. You’re never more than thirty seconds away from a chunky bass line or a sweeping synth filter, samples are cut and sliced into their own language, be they vocals, vinyl crackles, or house-y piano stabs.
There are some pretty chimes and bells at the start of “Sonder” and a beautiful vocal sample that sounds amazing in Dolby Atmos. The pace increases throughout the song and it’s just so uplifting, right up to the point it cuts away into the next song “How It Feels”. Because ”When Will We Land?” is such a cheerful album (even if some of the songs are wistful rather than happy), I think that’s why I have listened to it so much.
“Sunsleeper” is one of the songs of the year for me and it never fails to put a smile on my face. It feels a lot like a sped up version of “Sonder” but there’s so much more going on besides. The whole album plays like a very abridged DJ sets - it’s vinyl that sells now after all - but I bet this would be amazing as a long 12” version, perhaps in a form that dips into a similarly paced track and moves between the two.
The second side plays like an echo of the first, building from the smooth ballad “Woman” with it’s soulful vocal and twinkling pianos, through the strings and vinyl crackles that underpin “I Won’t Let You Down” (shades of Moby’s “Play” and Deep Forest’s “Sweet Lullaby” on this one) and on into “Tell Me What You Need” which borrows the loon sample from 808 State’s “Pacific 202” for a stylish tune that gradually adds more elements as it goes on. I love the synths sound as the song builds to a close and then cuts away for the intro to “Dance of the Crab”, the other certified banger on the album. There’s are several different trippy effects applied to the vocal sample at various that draw the vocal out and makes it stutter over the top of itself, almost acting in lieu of a drop, and it makes for a fun track that I would certainly love to dance like a crab to. (Please play this for me at wedding receptions from now on, thanks.)
This is a great album, missing only the amazing EP track “Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore” which would admittedly would have been harder to fit into the track listing. It’s another album from this list that is good for getting up in the morning: it’s sunniness and gradual build in tempo make it ideal for making a positive start to the day.