Review: Five years is a long time to go without an album in anyone's books, but it's also one of those reassuringly long hiatuses that betrays the ethics of the artists. Not compelled to buy their way into the 21st Century's rather abhorrent demand for constant stimulation simply to keep the likes, clicks and followers up, instead the outfits that take half a decade to gather themselves usually have something to say that's worth listening, and the instrumentals to back that up. There's A Big Star Outside is no exception to that rule we just made up. It soars, it swoons, it romances and it commiserates through a tapestry of artsy space rock, baroque pop, pseudo-shoe gaze, 1980s synth, and rousing indie. It tells stories, paints pictures, captivates emotions and speaks to heart and mind in one fell swoop. Or, to put all that another way, Swim Deep's latest might be their greatest.
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