When Will We Land?

by Barry Can't Swim

Overview

Barry Can't Swim is Joshua Mainnie, a London-based producer and musician originally from Edinburgh. His brand of house music is lush and tuneful, emphasizing melodies alongside laid-back grooves, with vocal samples and organic instrumentation being prominent elements. His tracks bring to mind artists like Fred again.. or Bonobo in club mode, but with more of a fondness for rave pianos (just check "Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore" from 2022's More Content EP). When Will We Land? is his Ninja Tune-issued debut full-length, and it's a more intricately crafted, moodier statement than his earlier singles, focusing on stirring vocal samples and wistful arrangements. While he initially sought out other collaborators for the project, he ended up making all the music by himself, and much of the album feels grand and cinematic -- it's not hard to imagine him incorporating orchestral parts on a future effort. When Will We Land? opens with a title track centered around an existential spoken word sample, building up fluttering pianos into an emotional, percussive burst, with ghostly vocals wailing in the background. "Deadbeat Gospel" highlights a raw, lo-fi recording of a friend from university called somedeadbeat, setting his stream-of-consciousness poetry to a sprinting, trancey rhythm. "Sonder" (previously featured as the first track on More Content) bathes a gentle piano hook and gorgeous African vocals in a layer of vinyl crackle. "Sunsleeper" chops up vocal samples from Galician folk group Aliboria, resulting in the album's most purely gleeful moment, while Lapsley contributes dusky vocals to "Woman," which comes closer to ODESZA's territory. The crisp drums, dramatic strings, and yearning vocal samples of "I Won't Let You Down" recall some of Moby's more soundtrack-ready songs. "Always Get Through to You" is soulful disco-house with choral vocals and handclaps, and "Tell Me What You Need" unexpectedly and successfully dips into smooth '80s electro-pop, intriguingly filled with echoing bird calls. Mainnie lets loose with "Dance of the Crab," an ecstatic samba-influenced track sampling Brazil's Trio Ternura. Barry Can't Swim's knack for detailed arrangements and passionate vocal samples makes for a creative, accomplished debut album. ~ Paul Simpson

Product Details

Release Date:	10/20/2023
Label:	Ninja Tune
UPC:	5054429173147

Tracks

1. When Will We Land?
2. Deadbeat Gospel
3. Sonder
4. How It Feels
5. Sunsleeper
6. Woman
7. I Won't Let You Down
8. Always Get Through to You
9. Tell Me What You Need
10. Dance of the Crab
11. Define Dancing

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Barry Can't Swim   Primary Artist
Falle Nioke   Featured Artist,Voices
Lily Laine Wright   Voices
Somedeadbeat   Featured Artist
Jack Loughrey   Voices
Blackboxx   Featured Artist
just lil   Featured Artist
Joshua Collard   Voices
Holly Fletcher   Voices
Jess Smyth   Voices

Technical Credits

Falle Nioke   Lyricist
Lily Laine Wright   Lyricist
Jack Loughrey   Lyricist
Joshua Mainnie   Producer,Composer,Arranger,Mixing
Jess Smyth   Lyricist
Joshua Collard   Lyricist
Holly Fletcher   Lyricist
Oli Bayston   Additional Production
Matt Colton   Mastering