Both Firm and Soft with Tom Morris on Swim Camp’s “Pillow”

“Pillow at home is a Pillow Cube™. I’m a big side sleeper and this pillow absolutely does the trick for me. It’s a memory foam pillow, so both firm and soft,” gushed Tom Morris in what was supposedly not the blatant attempt for Pillow Cube™ sponsorship it reads as (thought he “would fuckin’ love that” if it did lead there), just a sincere endorsement when asked what kind of pillow he uses at home. “I legit have three of them. I take the mini one on tour, one is a couch pillow, one’s in bed, and I got my mom one too.”

“I am a real stickler for routine and comfort, so I do like to bring a pillow on tour with me.” Even on the road, the pillow matters. “When there's so much uncertainty, it's nice to know where you get to rest your head at night. We also have a fuzzy body pillow on the bed at home and when my girlfriend is out of town sometimes, I'll sneak her pillow too,” he admitted. “It's made with real feathers, so it's very nice.”

Wormbrain World caught up with Tom Morris, the sleepy songwriter behind Philadelphia, PA project Swim Camp while he was in a hotel, admittedly missing his own pillow at home, to chat about how he sleeps at night and the band’s recent single “Pillow.”

Photo by Sarah Phung.

“I think ‘Pillow’ is definitely a progression musically. It's picking up pieces of what Fishing in a Small Boat was hinting at and more fully exploring those worlds,” he told Wormbrain. The track finds Swim Camp trudging a familiar downtrodden pace, somehow “both firm and soft” like a Pillow Cube™, but storming along nevertheless into darker, murkier, and unfamiliar territory, a shift fitting for the local juggernaut Julia’s War who released the single.

“Julia's War is a real dream home for Swim Camp. It's one of only a handful of labels who's roster I love from top to bottom,” Morris said, on working with the mighty and still fledgling record label. Julia’s War is a Philadelphia-based label that has previously released music for Wednesday & MJ Lenderman, Bleary Eyed, Feeble Little Horse, and more genre giants. “[JW] rides for the stuff they believe in and have created a great community around themselves and I'm just honored to be a part of it all in some small way.”

“Pillow at home is a Pillow Cube™. I’m a big side sleeper and this pillow absolutely does the trick for me.”

— Tom Morris of Swim Camp

“The new music I'm working on overall just feels more energized and exciting to me at this point. It's the most fun I've had making Swim Camp music in a long time,” Morris shared, on what “Pillow” may indicate about the direction Swim Camp heads in. “There's still a lot of the old style Swim Camp in there, but for me I've always wanted to make music that feels loud and intense and this new stuff is definitely scratching that itch.”

Scratch on, Swim Camp. Wormbrain is already itching to hear more.

W.W: What is Wormbrain?

TM: wormbrain is when you’re trying to think of something and you have it in mind and then you lose it and you can't remember it, but then you DO remember it a few moments later

W.W: Thank you for sharing with Wormbrain.

Swim Camp’s single “Pillow” is out now via Philadelphia, PA record label Julia’s War.