Fronted by founding duo New York-born, Los Angeles, CA-based Miles Garber, who’s best known prominent male model and Dave Gagliardi, who’s best known as a member of renowned punk act Trash Talk, Swimsuit Issue can trace their origins to when the duo met outside of an art show on the Bowery back in 2014. And instead of quickly rushing to put out material, the duo, along with a rotating cast of collaborators spent the next two years honing and refining their sound with the end result being their anthemic, 120 Minutes-era MTV meets contemporary indie rock- like debut single “Look Now,” complete with jangling and fuzzy power chords, a propulsive backbeat paired with Garber’s crooning vocals, in a song that manages to balance earnest emotionality with a deliberate attention to craft.
The band’s self-directed video draws from 80s cop movies, crime documentaries and crime TV shows — and a little bit of Trading Places as the video features Dave Gagliardi as a blatantly corrupt and thieving inside trader, who’s investigated and then arrested by his bandmate Miles Garber. Filmed in a series of flashbacks, the video features a number of talking heads, along with the video’s villain and protagonist singing along to various points of the song in a way that reminds of one of Magnolia‘s many surreal turns. Interestingly, the video manages to emphasize the song’s aesthetic and vibe, with each miserable character seeming to be yearning for something more than what they have in front of them.
