Something of a fixture in the Louisville music community, So It Was are a four-piece musical project led by songwriter Daniel Lobb. Since releasing the debut So It Was album back in 2019, Daniel has appeared on stage with the likes of S.G. Goodman and Mutual Benefit, and on records by Jim James and Joan Shelley. Now returning to his own music, So It Was are set to release their second album, Round The Mountain, this August, and today are premiering their new single, Swimming Hole.

While we’re all very used to song titles not being all that literal, Swimming Hole’s story does at least begin very on the nose, with Daniel googling, “best swimming holes in California”. From there he set off on an adventure that would lead him to meet his wife and best friend, and to kick a chronic health condition that had, “fogged him down” for a number of years. While that might seem like a stroke of luck, Daniel was actually following in the path of many who had come before him to the golden South Yuba river, a place people have gone to find themselves for almost two hundred years, particularly armed with pans during the gold rush. Struck by the magic of water, Daniel found a new motto for life, “seek the swimming hole”.

Musically, the track enters on a swirl of classical guitar, fingers effortlessly fluttering between notes, lately joined by an equally meandering piano flourish, somewhere between the Hot Club Jazz of the 1930s and the breezy folk of contemporaries like Big Thief or Elvis Perkins. Atop it all Daniel seems almost amazed by his luck, as he sings, “how’d we even find ourselves now? Golden river in misnomer county”, before he seeks to try his luck once more, “toss my hand, I’ll pan for gold, swimming hole, swimming hole”.

If this is all sounding too good to be true, don’t just take my word for it, Daniel’s good friend, and creator of my favourite album of 2022, Benedict Kupstas, aka Field Guides is also a huge fan, describing the track as, “one of my favourite songs on an album of favourite songs”. One that inspired him to think of his own Swimming Hole, “friends have told me of a secret swimming hole near Saugerties, NY, an idyllic spot with a waterfall and a perfect rock ledge from which to leap. I haven’t found it yet, but when I do, I expect to hear this song floating in on the breeze to soundtrack my plunge”. Take the plunge, hit the water and listen to the song, although maybe don’t do both at the same time unless you want to break your headphones.

Round The Mountain is out August 18th. For more information on So It Was visit https://soitwasmusic.com/.