Barry Can't Swim

Barry Can’t Swim is Edinburgh-born musician and producer Joshua Mainnie. He began learning piano at nine and later played guitar, drums and sang in bands. He became involved in club culture while studying in Edinburgh. The Amor Fati EP appeared on Shall Not Fade in 2021, followed by More Content on Ninja Tune’s Technicolour imprint in 2022.

Ninja Tune released When Will We Land? in 2023. The album includes piano-led writing, sampled voices and rhythms drawn from house, jazz and Afrobeat. In an interview about his listening, Mainnie named Khruangbin, Jai Paul, O’Flynn and the Avalanches. His live format has included Jim Molyneux on drums and Hannah Jacobs on keyboards. Loner followed in 2025, with Mainnie describing it as a more personal account of his life than the debut.