Face+Heel is brand-new duo (lyricist and guitarist Luke Taylor, and vocalist Sinead McMillan) from North Wales, UK, who have just released their debut album Our Princes’ Quarry (2016). As Charlotte McManus notes, Taylor and McMillan are "in the business of creating sensual atmospheric soundscapes, complete with delicately poetic lyrics and a minimal electronic sound". Like their contemporaries I Will, I Swear, Halou, Thomas Azier, Aquilo, Rangleklods and Xinobi, the duo aim to make electronic music that is organic, lyrical and "emotionally and intellectually intelligent".
"We Can Swim" achieves just that, presenting an upbeat, energetic portayal of doomed teenage romance. The lyrics 'We can swim/ Or we can die' reveal the setting of the relationship, a village troubled by floods, rising waters and the pressing need to relocate. Aiden Pilling notes that this may be a reference to the drowning of the Meirionnydd village of Capel Cely in 1965, in order to create a reservoir that would supply water to Liverpool. This historical reference is probably intentional; Taylor has noted that their hometown of Aberystwyth is a key inspiration to the album's narrative:
“Some of the instrument choices and structures are there to reflect what I was listening to growing up in the 90s in West Wales. It’s both in love with the place and has a sense of resentment at how remote and marginal it is and how every street has a memory of growing up; good or bad.”
Despite the tragic-romantic setting, the song is anything but fatalistic. With angular guitars, punchy drums, an electro-dancepop beat, sumptuous harmonies and a catchy chorus, "We Can Swim" presents a dreamy soundscape that presents young love facing momentuous adversity head on.
