Richard Swift “Beautifulheart”
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
The difference between Richard Swift’s first two releases, now neatly packaged into one by (fellow Bloomingtonians) Secretly Canadian, is quite large. He crosses, over the course of two full-lengths, the chasm that separates Rufus Wainwright/Ray Davies-style music hall crooning (The Novelist) from more standard, but still well-written and forcefully delivered singer/songwriter fare (Walking Without Effort). Each is a singular piece, to the extent that you assume Swift approached each one as a conceptual entity. If any succesive records (Dressed Up for the Letdown is planned for a Spring release) approach the simple grandeur of “Beautifulheart” (mp3), which pairs Swift’s elegant, restrained serenade with what sounds like a pastiche of the best guitar parts of Sumday, that would be fine with me.
Buy The Novelist/Walking Without Effort from Secretly Canadian here.
Also, check out the gorgeous “Lady Day” (mp3) from SC’s website.
richard swift has been one of my favorite discoveries of the past months. Thanks for posting this!
You can also hear Mr. Swift play keyboards on Starflyer 59’s excellent ‘Old’ release…..