For fans of Unwound, Dismemberment Plan, Slowdive, emo-adjacent indie rock, and being slightly off-putting at the function, It Can Happen Anywhere by Swarm Comp applies a challenging, experimental edge to the indie rock formula, keeping up appearances of a fun, danceable atmosphere while gesturing towards something much darker. Jangly guitars and approachable vocals set the aesthetic in motion, pulling the album’s sound in the sort of slightly gothic direction which has gained so much popularity in recent years. However, this formula in the hands of Swarm Comp has the uncomfortable tendency to get stuck into dissonant looping riffs, a cycle of anxiety which culminates in frantic performances from the entire band, most notably the typically restrained vocalist. From here, we see a graceful de-escalation into the noisy atmospheres of shoegaze, diffusing this energy into an environmental malaise which leads effortlessly back into the goth foundations which we found at the album’s beginning. Using aesthetic shifts rather than dynamic swells, we see here an alternate pathway towards grand-narrative-building in experimental rock, finding the same dark core through more approachable means.
