Swim was the second EP

Extended play

An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...

 by the British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 alternative rock

Alternative rock

Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...

 band Feeder

Feeder

-Technology:* Feeder , any of several devices used in apiculture to supplement or replace natural food sources* Feeder , another name for a riser, a reservoir built into a metal casting mold to prevent cavities due to shrinkage...

. It was Feeder's second commercial release, but failed to have much commercial success.

The EP had influences of Smashing Pumpkins early work along with Manic Street Preachers

Manic Street Preachers

Manic Street Preachers are a Welsh alternative rock band, formed in 1986. They are James Dean Bradfield, Nicky Wire, Richey Edwards and Sean Moore. The band are part of the Cardiff music scene, and were at their most prominent during the 1990s...

and Silverchair

Silverchair

Silverchair were an Australian rock band, which formed in 1992 as Innocent Criminals in Merewether, Newcastle with the line-up of Ben Gillies on drums, Chris Joannou on bass guitar and Daniel Johns on vocals and guitars. The group got their big break in mid-1994 when they won a national demo...

that would follow on Polythene

Polythene (album)

Polythene was the first full-length album by the Welsh rock band Feeder and was released 18 May 1997 on the Echo Label, and then re-issued on 28 October in the same year in an Enhanced CD version, featuring their UK top 40 breakthrough single "High" and its video...

.

It was re-released in 2001 in an expanded form, with extra tracks. The re-release is considered to be an "album" since it contains more tracks.

Release

The 6-track EP was released on June 24, 1996 on The Echo Label

Echo Records

The Echo Label was a record label started by Chrysalis Group in 1994, and linked with Pony Canyon in Japan. The Chrysalis Group were the original owners of Chrysalis Records, which they sold to EMI....

, and later released in CD

Compact Disc

The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...

-format on October 12, 1998. Swim was re-released with seven additional tracks on July 30, 2001. The songs "Stereo World

Stereo World

"Stereo World" is a song by Feeder, released as the group's first single in 1996. It was taken from the Swim mini-album. It also appears on the later released LP debut Polythene of 1997...

" and "Descend" appeared on the band's debut album Polythene

Polythene (album)

Polythene was the first full-length album by the Welsh rock band Feeder and was released 18 May 1997 on the Echo Label, and then re-issued on 28 October in the same year in an Enhanced CD version, featuring their UK top 40 breakthrough single "High" and its video...

.

After Feeder broke into the mainstream with their single "Buck Rogers" and "Echo Park" album, "Swim" was re-released, with five b-sides from the Polythene

Polythene (album)

Polythene was the first full-length album by the Welsh rock band Feeder and was released 18 May 1997 on the Echo Label, and then re-issued on 28 October in the same year in an Enhanced CD version, featuring their UK top 40 breakthrough single "High" and its video...

singles and two videos. The only difference between the original "Swim" artwork and the re-release, is the colour of the backgrounds; blue for the original and red for the re-release.

In late 2006 to coincide with the Japan tour in October of the same year, the album got its first release outside Europe.

Reception

On original release the mini-album was highly talked about by Kerrang!

Kerrang!

Kerrang! is a UK-based magazine devoted to rock music published by Bauer Media Group. It was first published on June 6, 1981 as a one-off supplement in the Sounds newspaper...

magazine as one of the releases of the year, but was not eligible for the end-of-year list due to being a mini-album.

The album on the week of re-release was Kerrang!

Kerrang!

Kerrang! is a UK-based magazine devoted to rock music published by Bauer Media Group. It was first published on June 6, 1981 as a one-off supplement in the Sounds newspaper...

 magazine's "Album of the week" and their website featured a commentary from lead vocalist and guitarist Grant Nicholas

Grant Nicholas

Grant Nicholas is a Welsh musician, best known as the lead singer and lead guitarist of the rock band Feeder, along with bassist Taka Hirose and drummer Karl Brazil.-Early years:...

 on each of the 11 audio tracks at the time.

It made #15 on the UK indie chart, and #91 on the national chart.

Several tracks are featured on the original PlayStation

PlayStation

The is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console first released by Sony Computer Entertainment in Japan on December 3, .The PlayStation was the first of the PlayStation series of consoles and handheld game devices. The PlayStation 2 was the console's successor in 2000...

 racing simulator, Gran Turismo

Gran Turismo (video game)

is a racing simulator designed by Kazunori Yamauchi. Gran Turismo was developed by Polyphony Digital and first published by Sony Computer Entertainment in 1997 for the PlayStation video game console...

.

Track listing

1. "Sweet 16" – 3:32
2. "Stereo World
   Stereo World
   "Stereo World" is a song by Feeder, released as the group's first single in 1996. It was taken from the Swim mini-album. It also appears on the later released LP debut Polythene of 1997...
   
   " – 3:32
3. "W.I.T. (Women in Towels)" – 2:29
4. "Descend" – 5:25
5. "Shade" – 4:09
6. "Swim" – 3:19

2001 re-release

1. "Sweet 16" – 3:32
2. "Stereo World" – 3:32
3. "W.I.T. (Women in Towels)" – 2:29
4. "Descend" – 5:25
5. "Shade" – 4:09
6. "Swim" – 3:19
7. "Elegy" – 4:13
8. "World Asleep" – 4:16
9. "Chicken on a Bone" (1997 version) – 3:45
10. "Spill" – 2:58
11. "Forgiven" – 4:47
12. Crash (CD Rom Video)
13. Cement (CD Rom Video)