Graham Reid | | <1 min read
Richard Swift: Most of What I Know
The previous album by this Californian singer-songwriter -- actually a double disc collection of his previously released singles and EPs -- made an appearance on Elsewhere many months ago and I hailed it to the skies.
And I've played it with alarming frequency ever since a first hearing.
This is his fully-fledged debut album proper, and it follows much the same pattern of his singles: suggestions of Harry Nilsson and Burt Bacharach; a wistful nostalgia for a Tin Pan Alley of 60/70s pop that never existed; lo-fi but cleverly arranged songs; gently soaring optimism against the odds . . .
Melodies here emerge then transform themselves into other equally memorable passages, and while he has a pop sensibility Swift is also a man with an ear on an even more distant past as he suggests ballads from the 40s.
Lovely voice too.
Richard Swift may not shake the world with this one either, but my guess is that in a few years he'll either be huge (unlikely) or someone referred to by a hip new generation.
Be the first on your block . . .
Grant Stone - Nov 24, 2008
It's not quite as good as this album, but I'd suggest his Ground Trouble Jaw EP for best of 2008
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