One of the outstanding songs on the new Swell (French fan site) album Whenever You're Ready. The album is pretty good though a tad too long. A return to form after the disappointing last record, 2001's Everybody Wants to Know which was basically David Freel solo on guitar and electronic devices. For those who know nothing about Swell their music could be best described as westcoast guitar pop psychedelia in the tradition of Dream Syndicate with a spacy cinematic component.

Next to Nothing (mp3) has Swell's typical warm and wistful acoustic guitar sound which always makes me think of the San Fransico fog with the sun rays slowly piercing through it. On top of that is a dreamy keyboard line and Freel's slightly raspy baritone which reconnects the song to the earth. Sean Kirkpatrick who lives in Santa Barbara now is back on drums and is also responsible for the lush CD artwork always close to postcard/poster kitsch but still gorgeous. David Freel sings here in a duet with Cory Sipper, a folkish singer/songwriter from Santa Barbara. Considering that I am not a fan of duets I find this one works amazingly well.