Following the release of their well-received debut album Top of the Line in 2024 via Howlin' Banana and À Tant Rêver du Roi, French slacker punk quartet Swirls returns with a new single "Powerstation". The track is taken from their second album set to be released in 2026.
"Powerstation is an anthem for anyone running on fumes but refusing to shut down. Energy from where there’s none left. A last-push song about scraping the bottom of the tank to give whatever’s still in there. It’s fast, fragile, and hits exactly where it should. Because it’s often when it’s almost too late that we make our best decisions." - Swirls
The single arrives with a music video directed by the band. "Powerstation" follows Serge, a denim-clad mannequin convinced he’s a rockstar. Shot as a mock-documentary on the road, the video blends irony and tenderness, spotlighting a plastic dreamer chasing electric glory. Visually, it’s a lo-fi, tongue-in-cheek collage of moments captured on the road: Spanish landscapes, service-station car parks, exhausted backstage corridors, makeshift dressing-room scenes.
About Swirls
Formed in Nantes (France) in 2022, Swirls began with a simple idea: make noise with style, and preferably without too much effort. Between crunchy amps, spontaneous urgency and friends taking the piss out of each other, the band forged a raw, laid-back aesthetic inspired by the Australian punk scene (The Chats, Eddy Current Suppression Ring or Drunk Mums) while also glancing toward the wider international garage-punk universe, from Parquet Courts to The Hives. Some listeners even pick up the occasional flicker of Strokes-style indie rock, discreet but definitely there.
In 2024, the band released their debut album Top of the Line on Howlin Banana Records and À Tant Rêver du Roi: a direct, impulsive record, capturing the way you’d light a makeshift campfire, no instructions, just conviction. Critics praised its urgent sound, endearingly fragile edge and catchy riffs, a set of songs that work just as well on record as they’re meant to be experienced live. A year later, Swirls return with a second album that turns the dial up a notch without losing the spark of spontaneity.