Swarming Branch - Surreal Number (2017)

The hard to pin down indie rock experimentalists Swarming Branch have one permanent member, Andrew Graham, and a rotating crew of musicians on call to help him fill out his wildly diverse songs. Graham started his musical journey in the early 2000s in Columbus, Ohio with the indie folk troupe RTFO Bandwagon. After releasing two albums with that group, 2007's Flagships and 2009's Dum Will Survive, Graham struck out on his own, forming Andrew Graham & Swarming Branch and expanding his scope to include glam rock, country boogie, Tin Pan Alley, swampy blues pop, and weird rock & roll rave-ups. The first recording released was the "Alien Skaters" single, then Graham hooked up with the Mexican Summer label to release an LP, Andrew Graham's Good Word, in 2010. The band playing on the album included drummer Ryan Jewell of Psychedelic Horseshit, bassist Chris Burney, pianist Dane Terry, and Larry Marotta on slide guitar. The next Swarming Branch album, Classic Glass, was issued in 2013 on the band's own Tonk Records. It featured drummer Lon Leary and solidified Terry's position as Graham's right-hand man. A two-song 10" record, Rock & Roll #61, followed in December 2013. After self-producing their music since the beginning, Graham, along with the core team of Leary and Terry, called in producer Rob Barbato (Drinks, Peaking Lights) and engineer Drew Fischer to help give the songs a more sophisticated feel. The resulting album, Surreal Number, was just as diverse and weird as previous works, but had a bigger, fuller sound. The band first released it on Tonk while on tour in 2016, then Ohio label Sofa Burn decided to give it a wider release in early 2017.