‘Cracked hymns to love, doubt and time’

Mute Swimmer is the musical project of Berlin based British artist Guy Dale. Through four LPs, numerous EPs and a changing cast of collaborators and players Dale has been shooting his fascination with the traditional lyrical song through art performance, post rock, ambient drone, folk and spoken word since 2008.

He has described the project as an act of sabotage - often taking the process of writing and moment of performance itself as a narrative subject. As such his songs often uniquely operate in the real time of performance - addressed directly to those present and in the present tense. Romantic, ironic and hauntingly melancholic by rapid turns he has earned a reputation for his compelling, idiosyncratic live performances.

Old Love, an emotive, minimalistic folk record made in collaboration with Copenhagen based musician Own Road, was released on Dendron Records in 2018. Air Itself - a meditative suite of ‘songscapes’ channeled Dale’s deeply poetic, if ambivalent lyricism through ambient folk, field recording and lo-fi drone. Present Perfect (2015) and Second (2014) - recorded as a four piece ‘art rock’ band - received airplay on BBC 6 Music (UK), Byte FM (Germany) and Radio Tres (Spain) despite containing songs entirely dedicated to time, repetition and the idea of zero. Seven inch single Song Against Itself (2011) was record of the week at Rough Trade and Piccadilly Records. Other releases include Old Tricks (2013) Orientation (2011) and Mute Swimmer (2010).

Mute Swimmer has released music on Truco Espárrago, Dendron, Woodland and Bleeding Heart Recordings.