Barry Can't Swim

British producer Barry Can’t Swim makes lively, tuneful house music with a touch of melancholy. Influenced by jazz and Afrobeat as well as classic pop songwriting, his tracks are groove-forward but also emphasize memorable melodies, and frequently contain vocal samples from a wide variety of genres and countries. Numerous stand-alone singles preceded two EPs, including the breakbeat-heavy More Content (2022), and his full-length debut, When Will We Land?, arrived in 2023. Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, Joshua Mainnie was classically trained, playing piano since he was nine, and he worked in jazz bars as a teenager. While attending university, he began playing guitar, bass, and drums, and performed in various bands, in addition to interning at famed Glasgow electronic label Soma Records. He began concentrating on electronic music after he moved to London, and his first song as Barry Can’t Swim, “Because I Wanted You to Know,” appeared at the end of 2019. “Sunday at Glasto” and “Some Day I Will” were released in 2020, as more people began noticing Mainnie’s distinctive, melody-rich dance tracks. His first EP, Amor Fati, was released by Shall Not Fade in 2021, and More Content followed on Ninja Tune’s Technicolour imprint in 2022. When Will We Land?, a set of lush, intricate tracks drawing samples from African, Brazilian, and Galician folk singers, was released by Ninja Tune in 2023. ~ Paul Simpson