2020 has been hard for performers the world over, but bands have arguably suffered more than solo singer-songwriters purely through the added constraints of isolation and lockdown preventing even rehearsals, recording, or shared-room writing. Couple that with cancelled gigs and missed tour dates, and Covid 19 sounded the death-knell for a number of less adaptable collectives.
Not so LA-Based Louden Swain, though, who simply parcelled up the new music they’d been working on, switched – like many bands – to Zoom collaborations and emails, and began the mammoth task of trying to piece together a new album by proxy. In January this year they set themselves the challenge of releasing a new single every month for as long as it took to get back out on the road in support of that album.
The first – title-track – single is this: ‘Basement Of No Hope’, and what a single it is, too. Reminiscent of The Struts, Neon Animal, or White Reaper – that mix of seventies and eighties glam stylings combined with modern rock sensibilities, with perhaps some Huey Lewis and the News-style mainstream radio rock groove in there for good measure. There’s a punkiness underlying some of the guitar work, melodic and thumping in equal parts, tuneful and with a genuine ear for songwriting.
Whilst no-one wants lockdown to continue for a second longer than necessary, there’s a part of us that are – on the basis of ‘Basement Of No Hope’ – intrigued to hear what else Louden Swain might come out with before the world returns to normal.
You can listen to ‘Basement Of No Hope’ via Louden Swain’s website, or follow them on Twitter and Facebook.
Review by Alex Holmes
