Swimming With Dolphins

Swimming With Dolphins was an orchestral pop project led by Mandy Richards, a classically trained vocalist who started the band in the late 1990s. She named it after oceanographer Jacques Cousteau's underwater documentaries, which gave the music its watery, expansive feel. Their song 'Jacques Cousteau' became their best-known track, capturing that cinematic quality.

They released several albums including 'Aquarium' in 1998, 'Jacques Cousteau' in 2001, 'The Magnetic House' in 2005, and 'Sing for Me' in 2009. Other songs like 'Captured' and 'Everything's A Miracle' show their blend of orchestral arrangements with pop structures. The band included Billy Dale on guitars, Steve Waterman on bass, Martin Timmins on drums, and Graham Clark handling orchestral arrangements alongside Richards' vocals and keyboards.

Their music had a certain grandeur without losing its melodic accessibility. The orchestral elements weren't just decoration, they were central to the sound, giving songs like 'Diplomat' and 'Easy' their particular texture. Richards' classical background informed how those arrangements worked with the rock instrumentation.