Barry Can’t Swim is a bold, colourful, impetuous voice in electronic music. Across a flurry of vital, cutting edge tracks he’s been able to blend club sounds with organic aspects, an outer-national approach that fuses house with afrobeat productions and jazz. From breakout EP Amor Fati to latest breakout club banger ‘Kimbara’, the producer has darted from style to style, all held together by that gleefully infectious approach.
In October 2023, Barry Can’t Swim released his exceptional debut album When Will We Land?. The now critically acclaimed album marked his boldest statement yet – daringly ambitious, it’s also carefully finessed. Upon release the album received impressive results across the board, charting at an impressive #12 in the UK album charts, launching alongside a Hottest Record and Essential Mix on BBC Radio 1 and receiving endless glowing press coverage from the likes of Billboard, The Times, Evening Standard, Mixmag and Clash who described it as “something quite magical”.
Real name Joshua Mainnie, the Edinburgh-born artist spent his youth in the Scottish capital, being introduced to the piano aged nine, after his grandfather noticed a ‘free to a good home’ sign in the local charity shop. From keys, Mainnie moved to guitar and drums in his teens, playing in bands with mates and writing songs in his bedroom.
Club culture entered his life as a student. Enrolling at Edinburgh Napier University, Mainnie discovered club culture through late night sessions at seminal electronic dugouts such as Cabaret Voltaire and Sneaky Pete’s. “It wasn’t just about clubbing,” he points out. “There’s a real sense of community. You’d go to after-parties, and meet people who were doing interesting things – like running nights, or they had their own labels. I was really involved in all of that.”
These days - Barry Can’t Swim is a globally recognised figure-head for organic dance music, encompassing sounds and energy from all around the world. The consistency runs through sound and melody; Mainnie’s jazzy piano solos have become iconic, and his unique style of flipping samples into modern club bangers is blazing quite the trail.
