Colonel William A. Phillips

Swimming With Dolphins is an American electronica band from Minneapolis, Minnesota. The band formed in 2008 by Austin Tofte and Owl City frontman Adam Young.[1] The name of the band was derived, according to Tofte, from "some old Jacques Cousteau documentaries from the 80s".[2] The group is fronted by Tofte, while Young performed synths and programming for the act and additionally served as the producer of the group.[3]

For the act, Tofte and Young created trademark outfits. Tofte took on the appearance of a submariner wearing a classic scuba suit and Young donned a pilot's mask (which would later become Sky Sailing's trademark look).[1]

History

The band made its debut with the release of their 2008 EP, Ambient Blue.[4] The EP was produced by Young and sold over 9,000 digital copies.[5] The song "Silhouettes", off the release, featured Breanne Düren.[6] In addition to the main release, the band also put out a cover version of Tracy Chapman's "Fast Car" as B-sides single to the EP.[7]

Young departed the band in late 2008 as Owl City's popularity began to increase.[8] Alone, Tofte signed Swimming With Dolphins on to Tooth & Nail Records in June 2010.[9] Recording for the album began in the summer of 2010 where it was produced by Aaron Sprinkle in Seattle.[10][5] The album finished production in Atlanta with help from producers Zack Odom and Kenneth Mount.[11][5] The debut album titled, Water Colours was set to be released in March 2011 but was pushed two months back.[12] It was officially released on May 17, 2011.[13] On August 5, 2011, Swimming With Dolphins uploaded the official music video for the first single off the record, "Sleep To Dream", via YouTube.[14]

After Young's departure, Tofte was joined by Sarah Beintker and Torrie James as part of his live band.[15] Beinker contributed her vocals to the songs "Holiday" and "Sleep To Dream" off Water Colours. The release also featured the artists Sunsun and Mod Sun.[16] Swimming With Dolphins joined Abandon Kansas on a Spring Tour that began in March 2011.[17] In support of his album, Water Colours, he joined Family Force 5 for the Tourantula tour during April and May 2011.[18]

After the release of his debut album, Tofte had parted ways with Tooth & Nail and started to release music independently.[19] In August 2013, Tofte launched an Indiegogo campaign to fund the project's upcoming album, Catharsis.[19] The funding needed $12,000 in mixing and mastering the album, as well as creating an album cover art, among many more.[19] In September 2013, Tofte announced that the campaign had been successful and would begin working on the album.[20][21] That same month, Tofte did an interview with Chris Herlihy's weekly syndicated radio show and talked about the release.[22] In a separate interview with Blue Freedom, Tofte stated that, "Catharsis is a cleansing and redemptive effort." He also believed he had "missed the mark" with his previous album release.[23] Also in September, Swimming With Dolphins released a preview of the new album in the form of a single instrumental track, entitled "Tromsø", via SoundCloud.[24] Swimming With Dolphins also posted a video for "Tromsø" via Vimeo around the same time.[25]

According to Tofte in 2014, the album was very near completion.[26] On August 21, Tofte stated that the track listing for the album would be revealed shortly.[27] On August 29, Tofte released the raw rough draft of the track listing for the album as well as the cover art for a single entitled "Summer Skin", which is to be on the album.[28][29] On September 23, "Summer Skin" was released to Swimming With Dolphins' SoundCloud.[30] On December 18, Tofte announced that a big update on Catharsis was to be released soon.[31] On May 1, 2015, Tofte revealed the album art for Catharsis as well as its release date of August 4, 2015.[32] Tofte instead released the single "Iron Lungs" instead,[33] saying he needed to "take a step back to recalibrate and determine a new release date" due to the premature announcement.[34]

On January 11, 2016, to celebrate "Iron Lungs" hitting 5,000 streams on SoundCloud, Tofte released a reworked version of "Summer Skin" for the final version of Catharsis.[35] On May 6, he released a new single, "Let You Love."[36] On April 1, 2018, after an over year-long hiatus from making music, Tofte released a sample of "Roller Dancer", which will be released on Catharsis.[37][38] As of January 2023, the album still has no release date.

Besides Swimming With Dolphins, Tofte was also a member of Owl City's live touring band in 2008.[10]

Musical style and influences

Swimming with Dolphins' music has been described as ambient,[9] electropop,[10] indie-pop[39] and synth-pop.[16] Their debut EP, Ambient Blue is a lot more experimental as the group works with synthesizers and features upbeat dance songs.[4] Their debut studio album, Water Colours, was influenced by 80s' synth-pop music.[13]

Accolades

Cross Rhythms named Water Colours as one of the 20 best albums of 2011.[40]

Band members

Current members

  • Austin Tofte – lead vocals, keyboards, piano, drums, synthesizers, programming

Former members

Former touring musicians

  • Sarah Beintker – vocals, keyboards
  • Torrie James – backing vocals, keyboards

Discography

Studio albums

List of studio albums, with selected chart positions
Title Album details Peak chart positions
US
Christ
[41] 		US
Heat.
[42]
Water Colours 40 31

Extended plays

List of extended plays, with sales figures
Title Album details Peak chart positions Sales
US
Christ
[41] 		US
Heat.
[42]
Ambient Blue
  • Released: September 2, 2008
  • Format: CD, digital download
 — —
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or was not released in that territory.

Singles

Title Year Album
"Fast Car" (cover) 2008 Non-album single
"Sleep To Dream" 2011 Water Colours
"Tromsø" 2013 Catharsis
"Iron Lungs" 2015
"Summer Skin" 2016
"Let You Love"

References

  1. ^ a b Paul Gibson (June 22, 2010). "Tooth & Nail signs Swimming With Dolphins". Thechristianrock20.com. Archived from the original on July 1, 2010. Retrieved July 20, 2023.
  2. ^ "An Evening with Austin Tofte - Swimming With Dolphins". Tumblr. Archived from the original on May 20, 2014. Retrieved July 20, 2023.
  3. ^ "Swimming with Dolphins Prepare For Full Length Debut Water Colors". louderthanthemusic.com. December 29, 2010. Retrieved July 20, 2023.
  4. ^ a b "Ambient Blue EP review on Jesusfreakhideout.com". Jesus Freak Hideout. Retrieved May 8, 2014.
  5. ^ a b c d "Swimming with Dolphins". louderthanthemusic.com. Retrieved July 20, 2023.
  6. ^ Shahlin Graves (November 26, 2011). "Interview: An Exclusive Indoor-Picnic Date With Breanne Düren". Coupdemainmagazine.com. Archived from the original on February 7, 2013. Retrieved July 20, 2023.
  7. ^ "Swimming With Dolphins' cover of "Fast Car" on SoundCloud". SoundCloud. Retrieved May 17, 2014.
  8. ^ Rich Smith. "Swimming With Dolphins - Water Colours". louderthanthemusic.com. Retrieved July 20, 2023.
  9. ^ a b Doug Van Pelt (June 23, 2010). "T&N signs Swimming With Dolphins". HM. Retrieved July 20, 2023.
  10. ^ a b c "Tooth & Nail sign electronica pop band Swimming With Dolphins". Cross Rhythms. June 29, 2010. Retrieved July 20, 2023.
  11. ^ "Electronica's Swimming With Dolphins releases debut album". Cross Rhythms. April 24, 2011. Retrieved July 20, 2023.
  12. ^ "Swimming with Dolphins Set to Release Water Colors". louderthanthemusic.com. May 13, 2011. Retrieved July 20, 2023.
  13. ^ a b Scott Fryberger (May 14, 2011). "Water Colours review on Jesusfreakhideout.com". Jesus Freak Hideout. Retrieved May 8, 2014.
  14. ^ "'Sleep To Dream' Official Music Video". Retrieved May 9, 2014 – via YouTube.
  15. ^ "Swimming With Dolphins bio on Jesusfreakhideout.com". Jesusfreakhideout.com. Retrieved May 9, 2014.
  16. ^ a b William Ruhlmann. "Water Colours Review by William Ruhlmann". AllMusic. Retrieved July 20, 2023.
  17. ^ "April Artist Update: Tooth & Nail Records, BEC Recordings, Solid State Records". Jesus Freak Hideout. April 7, 2011. Retrieved July 20, 2023.
  18. ^ "Abandon Kansas Kicks Off Dates With Swimming With Dolphins on March 8". Jesus Freak Hideout. February 8, 2011. Retrieved July 20, 2023.
  19. ^ a b c "Swimming With Dolphins Launch IndieGoGo Campaign For Catharsis". Jesus Freak Hideout. August 21, 2013. Retrieved May 8, 2014.
  20. ^ @SWDmusic (September 17, 2013). "YOU GUYS ARE AMAZING! WE DID IT!!!!! #CATHARSIS WILL HAPPEN!" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  21. ^ "Swimming With Dolphins To Release New Album". November 2, 2013. Archived from the original on November 3, 2013. Retrieved April 18, 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  22. ^ "Austin Tofte (Swimming With Dolphins) on Chris Herlihy". Retrieved May 19, 2014 – via YouTube.
  23. ^ Katie Emmons (September 12, 2013). "Blue Freedom interview with Austin Tofte about Catharsis". Bluefreedomblog.org. Archived from the original on May 13, 2014. Retrieved July 20, 2023.
  24. ^ ""Tromsø" on SoundCloud". SoundCloud. Archived from the original on May 17, 2014. Retrieved July 20, 2023.
  25. ^ ""Tromsø" video on Vimeo". Retrieved June 17, 2014 – via Vimeo.
  26. ^ @SWDmusic (July 25, 2014). "Hang in there friends, we're almost there!" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  27. ^ "Austin Tofte on Catharsis track listing". Facebook. Retrieved August 26, 2014.
  28. ^ "Tentative track listing for Catharsis on Facebook". Facebook. Retrieved September 4, 2014.
  29. ^ "New activity on Catharsis". Indiegogo.com. Retrieved September 1, 2014.
  30. ^ "As promised, I am excited to share with you all, the first single #summerskin off of my forthcoming album, #Catharsis". Facebook. September 23, 2013. Retrieved April 18, 2018.
  31. ^ "Hello everyone! A big Christmas update is in the works regarding #Catharsis but in the meantime..." Facebook. December 18, 2014. Retrieved December 30, 2014.
  32. ^ "As promised: Catharsis, 8.4.15". Facebook. May 1, 2015. Retrieved May 7, 2015.
  33. ^ @SWDmusic (August 5, 2015). "Sadly, no #Catharsis today. Still mixing. New release date soon. Here's a new track to hold you over #ironlungs" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  34. ^ "I'm at war with myself this evening". Facebook. August 4, 2015. Retrieved April 18, 2018.
  35. ^ @SWDmusic (January 11, 2016). "You gone done it! Here's another song off #Catharsis - Have a listen to the new and improved, #SummerSkin" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  36. ^ @SWDmusic (May 6, 2016). "Oh Hi. I'm just gonna leave this here..." (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  37. ^ "Hello out there". Facebook. December 18, 2017. Retrieved April 18, 2018.
  38. ^ "SNEAK PEEK/LISTEN HERE. SONG AND VIDEO ANNOUNCEMENT COMING SOON". Facebook. April 1, 2018. Retrieved April 18, 2018.
  39. ^ Phil Freeman. "Water Colours - Swimming With Dolphins Review". Alternative Press. Archived from the original on May 15, 2011. Retrieved July 20, 2023.
  40. ^ "The 20 Best Albums Of 2011". Cross Rhythms. December 16, 2011. Retrieved July 20, 2023.
  41. ^ a b "Top Christian Albums: Week of June 4, 2011". Billboard. Retrieved July 20, 2023.
  42. ^ a b "Swimming With Dolphins Chart History – Top Heakseekers Albums". Billboard. Archived from the original on January 1, 2016. Retrieved July 20, 2023.

External links

source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swimming_With_Dolphins_(band)