Swallowtail

The Bloom / The Blossom

It’s quite long, and not ambient enough to listen casually which means that it feels a little bit overly long, especially with the first 3 songs being 10 minutes long each and not particularly engaging. However, once the overwrought first half is over, and you get the more Rocky songs which are more palpable, you have some really great songs.

Unbelievably good mix of ambient, drone, shoegaze, and so much more too. AOTY 2021 ;)

Swallowtail is an artist i have never heard of and quite a young one aswell but when i saw the tags of Post-Rock and Ambient associated with this record, I was intrigued as I love that and i do love the more noisy ethereal soundscape Swallowtail manages to set within The Bloom / The Blossom and although tracks Like Nessuifunshutsuko and in essence the overall album stretches itself a bit too much, swallowtails manages to create a beautiful soundscape with some lovely textures and using ... read more

While it requires patience, The Bloom / The Blossom is one of the most rewarding albums i’ve heard in recent memory

First half: Beautifully done.
Second half: Hmmmmmmmmmm...
Raw. Half-baked.

more people need to listen to this, especially that last half GODDAMN

Surprisingly strong post rock album with lots of great and beautiful moments. Explosions in the Sky but less epic and more ambient (in a very guitar heavy way) which is basically exactly what I always wanted Explosions to be, with also some interesting math rock influences and time signatures. Yeah great album.

The latest Swallowtail LP is riddled in beautiful and enthralling moments of oppressive drone, heavenly shoegaze and atmospheric ambient, but it is unfortunately burdened with two much padding to truly fulfil its ambitious goals. In over an hour of music, Swallowtail attempt to concoct a mixture of all things ethereal, but these progressions fail to hold me for as long as they go on for. Songs reach highs close to ten minutes, and these few interesting ideas are spread to thin to hold my ... read more

Dont dismiss based on length. Sure the first few songs go on a bit but all in all this is a rewarding album.

Not entirely sure the first track justifies not just being 2 tracks (beyond the implicit ambient music requirement of at least 4 tracks over 10 minutes I suppose), but this is overall a really solid piece of work. It's a bit more involved than I anticipated, to the point where I think I'd call it closer to post-rock and shoegaze, but the soundscapes are rich and the building up of every element through repetition as the tracks build feels consistently absorbing without being too rigid and ... read more

Stunning, definitely loving this.

Honestly, this one is beautiful. More to come.

swallowtail gives us one of the most exciting ambient albums of all time

cures insomnia!!!!!

An atmospheric ambient post-rock album that reminds me of ‘Godspeed You! Black Emporer’. The release demands a lot of patience from the listener. It’s not bad, just not rewarding enough to justify the track length and speed of their progressions. An enjoyable but exhausting experience. It does pick up the pace a little bit after the first 3-4 tracks however.