Good Swim - Chasing Shadows: A Beautifully Intimate Acoustic Song About Loss

By Chris Kennedy | Published 22nd August, 2026

Good Swim

After a twelve-year break from recording, Belfast singer-songwriter Dave McConnell returned to the studio last year without any grand plans. He simply wanted to create again. What started as a single recording session with producer Michael Bell at Start Together Studios soon developed into something much bigger, and Good Swim was born.

Since then, the project has quietly made its mark on Northern Ireland's folk and singer-songwriter scene, building an impressive catalogue and clocking up more than 60,000 streams along the way.

Now, Good Swim returns with Chasing Shadows, another beautifully understated piece of acoustic songwriting that finds McConnell at his most vulnerable.

Good Swim's Chasing Shadows Is All About Simplicity

Good Swim first re-introduced himself with Paper Tiger, before following it with Solstice, Simulation Theory and A Mark On You. Each release has helped establish McConnell's distinctive songwriting style, but Chasing Shadows feels particularly personal.

The track takes a deliberately stripped-back approach. There are no unnecessary layers or elaborate production tricks competing for attention. Instead, we're treated to warm acoustic fingerpicking and McConnell's voice sitting front and centre.

And it works.

His vocal delivery is raw, intimate and conversational, creating the feeling that you're sitting across the room from him while he tells you his story. There's a natural vulnerability running through the performance, and rather than trying to hide it, McConnell embraces it.

It's this honesty that makes Chasing Shadows so effective.

A Love Song With Something Darker Beneath It

On the surface, Chasing Shadows breathes like a love song. But listen a little closer and there's considerably more going on beneath the surface.

The song carries a deep sense of frustration - with God, with the world and with the unfairness of watching others seemingly move through life untouched by the devastation that we sometimes carry ourselves.

It's a complicated emotional space, and McConnell doesn't attempt to offer easy answers.

Speaking about the track, Good Swim explains that the song began with a fever dream during a particularly hot summer, at a time when everything felt like it was beginning to fall apart.

He describes scrambling for faith or feeling while experiencing a strange numbness, almost as if everything was happening to somebody else. At its heart, Chasing Shadows became a song about dealing with loss and trying to discover a new way to be happy.

That sense of emotional uncertainty comes through beautifully in the finished track.

Good Swim Continues To Find Strength In Vulnerability

There's something refreshing about the simplicity of Chasing Shadows. In an era where songs can sometimes feel overloaded with production, Good Swim takes the opposite approach.

The acoustic guitar gives the track its heartbeat, while McConnell's vocal does most of the emotional heavy lifting. Every pause, crack and subtle change in his delivery adds to the feeling that we're hearing something genuinely personal.

It's intimate without becoming overly sentimental, and melancholic without completely losing sight of hope.

More importantly, it feels authentic.

Good Swim's growing catalogue suggests that Dave McConnell is continuing to mould a songwriting style built around introspection and confession. Chasing Shadows is perhaps one of the clearest examples yet of what makes the project so compelling.

Final Verdict

Chasing Shadows is a beautifully intimate piece of acoustic songwriting from Good Swim. Stripped back and emotionally honest, the track proves that sometimes the most powerful songs are the ones that don't need much dressing up.

Dave McConnell's vulnerability is the star of the show here, turning a simple acoustic arrangement into something deeply affecting.