Looking at the cover of Pro Swimming Hour’s debut album "Penrose Winoa" (whatever that is) you have an impression that it was drawn by a very advanced child. Or a grown-up that doesn’t want to be a grown up. Or a grown up that wants to reminisce about his childhood.
In the case of London duo Oliver Wilde and Nicholas Stevenson. It is probably all of those. And it is no coincidence that so far Stevenson’s main day job was as children’s book artist.
What Oro Swimming Hour have come up with here is a true lo-fi nostalgia piece. The one that actually works. A problem with many lo-fi albums is that they insist on the crackly tape antics, rarely coming up with a decent melody or harmony, or any instrument variation besides acoustic guitars or basic drumming or electronics.
Not the case here. The duo obviously went for the lo-fi sound to create the nostalgic atmosphere they are trying to convey, not falling into the “tedium trap” such production can create. What is most important though is that throughout the album they never lose the sense of a good melody, adding extra touches wherever they deemed it was necessary. And they seem to have done that in all the right places.
Usually, with albums like "Penrose Winoa" it is easy to pinpoint the sources the musicians were inspired by (in a lot of cases, who they are copying), but you will have a very hard time doing that with Wilde and Stevenson. Very soon into the album, you realize that they didn’t enter its recording with any conscious idea who they should sound like, and that is a true achievement in itself.
Oro Swimming Hour obviously reminisces about the times that have gone by, but instead of coming up with over sweetened, sticky gluey music, they have created a piece of interesting, intelligent and very listenable lo-fi pop. Certainly, deserves repeated plays.
