Over the last year the Portland band Growing Pains have become one of the most buzzed about bands in the Pacific Northwest. Composed of Jack Havrilla, Kyle Kraft, Kalia Storer and Carl Taylor — the band began popping up on bills around when they were still teenagers, and in more recent times have toured up and down the West Coast while sharing stages with bands like MX Lonely, Alien Boy, Been Stellar, Water From Your Eyes, Beabadoobee and Dutch Interior.
Despite the recent buzz around the band, Growing Pains haven’t released any new music since a 2023 EP that came out while they were still in high school. Today, the band are announcing their signing to the label Photo Finish, and sharing their first single since that EP, a track called “Swimming.”
“Swimming” is as an immediate and streamlined guitar pop track with the melodic heft to read like a lost early oughts alternative radio hit. Recalling ’90s icons like Liz Phair and Julianna Hatfield as re-imagined by Joyce Manor, the single is an immensely promising first statement from an ambitious young band determined to meet their moment.
Storer says of the track: “This song is about the helpless feeling that comes from being romantically incompetent. I wrote it after going on a date and they put their arm around me and it felt wrong. I left and went to the airport to watch the planes fly and drink a beer on my truck. Then all of the words came to me—this was the night before our last day of recording.”
Keep your mind open.
[Swim over to the subscription box!]
[Thanks to Tom at Terrorbird Media.]
