New York sibling trio BAILEN will release their third album, SWIM!!!, on September 25.
The record arrives after a car crash involving Julia Bailen and her parents that could have ended very differently. All three walked away, but the experience snapped Julia out of the songwriting malaise she had been feeling since 2023’s Tired Hearts. That same night, she began writing the verses to the album’s title track on a damaged guitar that had survived the wreck.
SWIM!!! is also BAILEN’s first independent release, with Julia, Daniel and David taking greater control of the process themselves. David mixed and engineered the record, Daniel handled production and string arrangements, and Julia oversaw the creative direction, with sessions taking place everywhere from their parents’ house and their grandfather’s basement to abandoned churches.
The result finds BAILEN sounding looser and more self-assured, moving between folk-rock, indie pop, psychedelic touches and the three-part harmonies that have always sat at the center of the band.
SWIM!!! is out September 25.
