Combining a diverse set of progressive rock, post-rock/post-punk, jazz-funk, and world music influences, BankSwallow is based in the Toronto region and was formed in 2019 by Alan Walks (guitar, bass, mellotron, vocals), Jody Brumell (drums, vocals), Michael Flynn (guitar, vocals), and Geoff Martel (electric and acoustic pianos, synths, sitar).
Their name, while deriving from a common ravine-dwelling swallow in the Toronto area, also evokes many of the themes of their socially and politically oriented music. Among other things, they critique the financialization and commodification of everyday life, techno-feudalism and the subjugation of working people to the whims and surveillance of big tech, the theft of indigenous land, the mongers of war, and the rise of the ultra-rich autocrats. At the same time, many BankSwallow compositions are improvised and instrumental, and their philosophical stance is to only include vocals and singing when it is made absolutely necessary by the music. BankSwallow is steadfastly against any use of AI in music and art
After releasing their self-titled debut album in 2020, BankSwallow followed with “Smooth Talker” (2021), “Fake World” (2022), and “Underwater” (2025). Each is loosely based around a concept of sorts, their musical comment on the current state of the world.
