The debut single “Heathlands” by The Swell introduces a wonderfully atmospheric indie project out of Leeds. Built on the themes of introspection and a profound spiritual awakening, the track really nails a specific mood. From the first note, the song feels deeply ethereal, combining hazy guitars and dreamy vocals to create a warm, nostalgic, and summery atmosphere. The songwriting is immediately very relatable, touching on those universal feelings of seeking inner peace and interconnectedness after periods of suffering. It clearly draws a lot of great inspiration from early dream pop records, and you can really feel the influence of Slowdive’s Simon Scott in the mastering.
While the band’s vision is fantastic, there are a few technical tweaks that could really elevate the song’s overall experience and success. The guitars are just a little too loud and harsh in the higher frequencies from around 5KHz upwards; even though they are panned left and then right as the second guitar gets introduced later on, they still clash a bit with the vocals. I completely understand the aim of the spacious style mix the engineer is trying to achieve, but it seems like the reverb space might be making the track a bit muddy. One trick that works wonders is removing the lows up until 600Hz and the highs above 10KHz on the effect tracks. This usually frees up a lot of headroom while preserving that essential spatial ambiance. You could also sidechain compress the reverb to the lead vocal with about 3dB of gain reduction, which keeps the spaced-out feel while allowing the vocals to punch through the mix clearly. It is a stunning track with just a bit of mixing potential left to unlock.
Take a listen to “Heathlands” below:
Written by Oluwaseun Adeyemi
