Today's Song of the Day, as chosen by Larry Mizell, Jr., host of the Afternoon Show on KEXP, is "Swallowed Whole" by Es, from the 2023 Fantasy EP on Upset The Rhythm./p>
London-based quartet Es burst onto the scene back in 2020 with their debut LP Less of Everything, made up of nine tracks of ominous and icy post-punk exploring the tension between intent and interpretation. Three years later, they’re back with the Fantasy EP. For their new release, they’ve bumped the tempo up but haven’t lost an ounce of sneer.
Our Song of the Day “Swallowed Whole” is frantic and twitchy, with taut syncopated rhythms and pinched synths while frontperson Maria Cecilia Tedemalm sings of building anxiety that completely overwhelms. Tedemalm had this to say about the song:
"Musically the writing process behind ‘Swallowed Whole’ is a bit hazy for me, but I very vividly remember getting super excited when listening to the first rough demo over and over again and writing almost all the lyrics while walking to the bus stop 7 minutes from my house. Once I had the first line down the rest just came flowing. I think I had a lot of pent up frustration just itching to get out as thematically the song taps into some quite frantic and raw emotions. It’s about teetering on a knife's edge and wanting to escape yourself and your current circumstances before they completely devour you. We shot the video for it at our friend's recording studio called Head Cold in Bermondsey. The idea originally was to be "Swallowed Whole" in smoke but sadly the smoke machine we borrowed wouldn't work so it came out a bit more like maybe we're playing at your highschool under the sea themed prom."
Watch the video for "Swallowed Whole," directed by Tedemalm, below.
