Swapmeet on the Journey to their Debut Album 'Mount Zero'

Photo by Josh Sabini

Over a few years, Adelaide indie rock band Swapmeet have gone from self-recording music with friends to culminating multiple South Australian Music Awards wins. Formed in 2022 by longtime friends Venus O'Broin, Maxwell Elphick, Jack Medlyn and Joshua Doherty, the group first built a following through the local Adelaide scene before releasing their debut EP, Oxalis, in 2024. The project's blend of folk-inspired songwriting, expansive arrangements and meticulous DIY production quickly earned attention, and made Swapmeet the first international act signed to Los Angeles label Winspear.

Since then, the band's momentum has only continued to grow. Earlier this year, they took their music overseas for South by Southwest, where they were named one of the festival's ‘most impressive new acts’ by Rolling Stone. Now, they're preparing to release their debut album, Mount Zero, in July 2026. Recorded at a beach house in Noarlunga and named after the mountain range that sits between Adelaide and Melbourne, the record represents the band's most ambitious work to date, expanding on the layered, immersive approach that has become a hallmark of their sound.

Ahead of the album's release, we caught up with Swapmeet to discuss the making of Mount Zero, their evolution from local favourites to international buzz band, and how four friends from Adelaide found themselves at the centre of one of Australia's most exciting indie rock stories.

You’ve gone from playing the Adelaide scene as Sour Sob to becoming the first international signing to Winspear –what moments made you realise the project was starting to grow beyond your local community?

The first Melbourne show we played is a standout to me. I guess when people from another city knew the lyrics to a couple of our songs it felt pretty special.

Oxalis was entirely self-recorded and mixed. What did DIY recording teach you about the kind of band you wanted Swapmeet to become?

We found that recording ourselves allows craaazy amounts of freedom, sometimes too much. We tried the studio thing with an engineer and fancy gear but it didn’t really work for what we were going for. We were also kind of jaded by the idea of working with a studio early on, because we sent a demo of ceiling fan to someone at a studio and they just told us that the song structure needed to change. It’s allowed us to have so much fun during the making of a song, which is the most important.

Photo by Olive Rush

Your music feels both intimate and heavily layered at the same time. How do you balance emotional immediacy with the more experimental side of your production process?

We all think a big part of it is like just not using much reverb. There’s a time and place for it but everything is so much more present if there isn’t much. I find it more interesting to fill a mix with layers that are conducive to the emotion of the song than to wash it out with the big Verb.

The band has cited artists like Big Thief, Pinegrove, Julia Jacklin and Stella Donnelly as influences. Are there any unexpected inspirations that have shaped your sound recently?

I guess some of our choices are influenced by hyperpop and just general dance and electronic music. Individually we all listen to stuff like Fakemink, ear, Skee Mask, Charli XCX, Justin Bieber, The Hellp, bassvictim, Loukeman, and Addison Rae. I hope our sound just keeps changing.

Winning Best Song and Best Release at the South Australian Music Awards so early in your career must have been surreal. Did that recognition change your confidence or expectations as a band?

It is very nice to be recognised at home, especially after we all worked so hard to make that record happen. It’s not something we take lightly, especially because there are so many great creatives in Adelaide. 

You recorded Mount Zero at a beach house in Noarlunga. How did that environment shape the mood or sound of the album compared to Oxalis?

I think I can hear how raw it sounds, like the drums have this edginess from the sound bouncing straight off the glass window they were next to. It was also really stormy and wet outside, so we didn’t have much better to do than look at Ableton. It was also a funny emotional escape down there from things that were happening back in the city, and I think that that allowed us to write really candidly. 

After SXSW and all the attention surrounding the band lately, what do you hope people understand about Swapmeet once they hear Mount Zero in full?

I hope people understand that we’re very serious about having fun. We just wanna have fun. But seriously. 

Listen to Swapmeet on SoundCloud, Apple Music, and Spotify. Keep up to date with them via Instagram.