Appreciating the Process with Nagasaki Swim’s “Everything Grows” [Music Video Premiere]
“I feel like I've been getting a little better at planning things,” shared Jasper Boogaard of Rotterdam, Netherlands-based folk rock project Nagasaki Swim. “I still struggle, but my Google Calendar is in decent shape at the moment. I guess that happened naturally, but I do have to give myself a push from time to time. Everything grows.”
Everything Grows is Boogaard’s latest album, set to be released on March 3rd through Amsterdam label Excelsior Recordings, a followup to their debut The Mirror released almost exactly two years prior. Despite the personal growth with planning, this timing was apparently coincidental! “It just sort of happened, but it does feel special in a way,” they told Wormbrain.
“Writing this song was the key to finding out what I wanted the album to be about,” Boogaard said, reflecting on the album’s closer and title track. “When those words (“Everything Grows”) first appeared in my mind I didn’t exactly know what I meant with them, but slowly the words started to grow in my head. It's the closing and title track because it encapsulates a lot of the themes on the album: growth, struggling with the small things or the big things in life, and moving forward nonetheless while trying to learn about it all.”
Nagasaki Swim are sharing their new single “Everything Grows” today, premiering alongside an exquisite video, via Wormbrain World:
“To me, The Mirror is about looking for a specific goal, and trying to find direction — both in my life as well as trying to find out what Nagasaki Swim means,” Boogaard told Wormbrain, comparing the band’s two full length releases, “The new album is more about being okay with not having a goal, and appreciating the process itself.”
“When I was recording the Mirror, I was trying all sorts of things to figure out how I wanted my music to sound. With this new record, it went a lot more organically and I didn't really have to think about the sound. It just sort of happened which feels fitting with the themes on the album.”
“...the ultimate goal of the new album is to feel like you wander through a spring day, with the occasional storm taking you by surprise. ”
While on first listen, Wormbrain felt the latest album carries the same air as a fresh spring day spent with the window cracked open or lounging on the lawn feeling the breeze. Jasper Boogaard told W.W that he agreed with our assessment, “though I must say that the music might also be enjoyed on a rainy day in autumn.”
“I write more songs in the colder months, so to me they reflect that as well. I think the ultimate goal of the new album is to feel like you wander through a spring day, with the occasional storm taking you by surprise. But I wanted this closing song to feel like the sun overtakes the last storm on the record, ending on a positive note.”
Storms pass, everything grows. How do you feel when you listen to it, reader?
Photo by Cheong Park.
W.W: What is Wormbrain?
JB: Wormbrain is when you try to experience a feeling you had as a child. There are fragments of nostalgia, watching that childhood show or playing the games you used to play, but ultimately it's not the same — you're a different person now, and that's fine.
W.W: Thank you for sharing with Wormbrain.
Nagasaki Swim’s new album Everything Grows will be out everywhere via Amsterdam-based label Excelsior Recordings.
