Wes Swing

It’s very rare in this day and age that people take chances, especially with music. We live in an age of constructed, play-by-numbers saccharine pop and oh-so-depressing emo music which has made a complete mockery of the music industry in general, despite it’s obviously positive effect on the profits of those companies who pedal it. We live in a Justin Bieber world where anyone can be a popstar (Rebecca Black, I’m looking at you here) and anyone can achieve fame with a video on YouTube and a bunch of slack-jawed kids to talk about your fifteen minutes. The negative effects of this are many but none are more keenly felt than the detriment it has to people with real talent. In a perfect world, we would shun these plastic heroes and embrace the raw talent of the truly passionate. We would embrace people like Wes Swing.

Wes Swing is a trained violinist (from age 4), a trained cellist, winner of the 2008 First Amendment Writes songwriting competition and a true experimentalist. Swing makes music that is calming, relaxed and chilled. This is something that could soundtrack a night in with a bottle of red, an intimate dinner or a slow, sleepy Sunday morning as much as it could time with friends and family. Based in Charlottesville, Virginia, and working as both a Latin tutor and a music teacher, Wes found time to record tracks for his debut album and to experiment with looping technique and arrangement.

Recorded at home in Virginia, Through A Fogged Glass is the sort of indie-folk you just don’t hear often. Wes has played as many instruments on this release as is humanly possible and brought in local talent to fill in the gaps, including vocalist Devon Sproule (http://www.devonsproule.com/). Despite first impressions, this LP shows a lot of varied influences. Tracks In A Station Of The Metro and All Other Love are both classic poems set to beautifully swelling cello-folk (Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot being the respective poets behind them). Elsewhere, the loops and vocal work of tracks like Dilate recall Kid A era Radiohead. The minimalist, looping style has, of course, been done before…but never like this. Whilst not going to the electronic extremes of someone like William Orbit, with his experimental re-telling of classic pieces on Pieces In A Modern Style, Swing crafts an album of surprising grace and beauty. A brief consideration of whether cello-folk/pop would work would often yield a scratch of the head. Wes Swing, however, proves it’s worth time and again on this album, creating a rich and lilting soundscape that is a sheer joy to explore. This album is as much a delight to dip into for one or two tracks as it is to journey through the whole thing in one go.

You can find out more about Wes Swing at http://wesswing.com/ and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wes_Swing and grab a copy of Through A Fogged Glass at http://wesswing.bandcamp.com/

This album, for me, was a true revelation. In a world where mindless noise is celebrated, it’s an uplifting prospect to find someone still working on making real music, experimenting and pushing their way through with something unique and wonderful. I have been both surprised and overjoyed hearing this album. I can’t wait to hear what comes next. - Buzzpost

Once upon a time, being in a band meant one of two things. Like the Beatles in Hamburg, a band could strive to deliver its best live performance. Or like Revolver-era Beatles, the recording studio itself could be the instrument. But in offering a performer the chance to record, repeat and manipulate phrases, the live loop shattered that distinction. Conjure your favorite atmospheric with the click of a pedal and, voila, Phil Spector’s at the soundboard.

No local act does so much with the loop as Wes Swing does in live performance with his cello, summoning a symphony from the metal box at his feet. Swing releases his debut disc, Through a Fogged Glass at the Jefferson Theater on January 7. (He shares the stage with Devon Sproule, who’s also got a new disc called Live in London, and whose voice figures prominently on Swing’s record.)

“For years,” says Swing, “I was writing modern classical music and string quartets. I realized, doing what I do now, I really enjoy being able to perform my own music. Not having to write music down is nice, and having made that decision, I thought I’d try to make music my life.” He quit his job as a Latin teacher and started recording. The process took two years, which Swing spent living in a Nelson County cabin, and later, when he started splitting time between Charlottesville and Athens, Georgia.

The album opens with “Instrumental 1,” an understated introduction that layers a descending pizzicato cello, a gorgeous set of bells and quiet handclaps, melding the simple and the sinister as Carl Orff did in his children’s music. The loops channel Steve Reich’s techniques, and gravity of arrangement channels Philip Glass. But the compositions themselves mostly channel the highbrow pop of Radiohead and Coldplay, and that’s what makes Swing appealing: It’s pop music that makes you feel like you’re listening to something more sophisticated than pop music.

Swing’s loops similarly create a jagged edge between a song’s verse and chorus, as it does on his “Lullaby.” The song begins as a piddly number, with plucked strings and Swing imploring the listener “say goodnight.” When the chorus hits, the melody smears with long, weepy drags of Swing’s cello bow, while he and Sproule harmonize, “I can’t sleep tonight,” marrying the musical vibe with the lyrical sentiment.

One of the album’s best tracks, “In a Station of the Metro,” takes that imagist poem from Ezra Pound, looping the first line, and then the second: “The apparition of these faces in the crowd,” and then, “Petals on a wet, black bough.” Below, the music pulsates and subtly morphs along with Swing’s vocal delivery, diving when he starts singing the second line. Like any good poem, it’s the marriage of form and content that elevates Swing’s work. - C-Ville Weekly

Experimental folk rocker Wes Swing takes pride in making a lot out of a little. Like a cold fall night pierces a mountain hollow, his twangy voice rings out over his classical cello strings. That's not many ingredients, but his debut album, Through a Fogged Glass, neatly packages them into a crisp yet rewarding set of two-minute looped soundscapes.

"I'm really interested in getting a lot out of something very small," says Swing. "I want to create something really expressive in a short amount of time, in a big, bombastic way."

Swing began his musical journey as a four-year-old violinist, developing an early appreciation for classical music, and he was playing in orchestras by the time he hit second grade. He later picked up the guitar to pursue rock music, but by the time he hit college, he was back to his classical roots with the cello.

"I felt that that was what I was supposed to be doing all along," he explains. "It's much more immediate and accessible to people. When I write, I'm thinking, 'What about this experience means something?' I hope that it's more universal than just my own personal take on things."

He began working on Through a Fogged Glass about two years ago, playing as many instruments as he could and bringing in some of the top local artists to fill in the gaps, including Brian Caputo, an ace percussionist, and Charlottesville darling Devon Sproule for vocals. The latter's lilting and sensual voice is the perfect companion to Swing's scratchy draw. The two tightly but organically intertwine on the lullaby "Sleeping Moon."

Swing wrote most of the album in a Nelson County cabin where--- in between sessions teaching music and tutoring Latin--- he would crank up the wood stove on cold nights and experiment with literary influences.

"I was barely scraping by, living without much, but I had to find a way to make it work financially," he explains. "I'm lucky. I could make a living while having plenty of free time to record and write."

The literary influences abounded, as T.S. Eliot and Ezra Pound would find places within "In a Station of the Metro" and "All Other Love." But other things weren't quite so abundant--- "certain things like health insurance," he laughs.

Still, the sacrifice has begun to pay off. After the album release gig at the Jefferson, Swing will take his cello to the West Coast before heading off to Germany, where an audio engineer fan has offered studio space and financing for his next album. So the Swing aesthetic may remain minimalist, but perhaps the process won't have to be.

Wes Swing releases Through a Fogged Glass on Friday, January 7, at The Jefferson, where Devon Sproule will release Live in London. - The Hook

Through a Fogged Glass is the latest release of cellist and Songwriter, Wes Swing. His style is reminiscent of Andrew Bird with an uncanny ability to build beautiful soundscapes and poetry.

When performing live Wes Swing makes great use of loop pedals as he plays cello and violin, creating musical landscapes to unspin his tales upon. He has been playing violin since the age of four and soon built an appreciation for classical music, whispers of which can be heard on Through a Fogged Glass. He is as talented a songwriter as he is a musician but what I like about his music is his natural ability to take melodies and compose and experiment around them, something that suits the clever use of looping and layering.

The album offers great diversity ranging from alt-folk to experimental forays where sound and song are both deep and searching. It’s not short on atmosphere and listening to the album became a journey that I found lent itself to a full listen rather than dipping in and out of tracks. The experimental nature of Blood Branches and the later two part Ghosts, a journey of neo-classical beauty demonstrate the album’s depth. The talented heights of this album are not just instrumental as Song Twelve shows, where Swing demonstrates his vocal prowess with delicate intonation and serene three-part harmonies with his band.

Swing wrote most of the album in a cabin in the woods where he would “crank up the wood stove on cold nights and experiment with literary influences.” He is one of those artists that will be interesting to watch develop to see where he takes his music to next. - Folk Radio UK

At Bowery Electric last night, time felt as though it was standing still. Wes Swing (@wesswingmusic), a somberly sweet singer songwriter played to an attentive gathering of fans. This group of New Yorkers sat quietly as they lost themselves in the melodic music. Playing songs from their debut album Through a Fogged Glass, Wes Swing showed his passion for the strings. With a beautifully soft layering including cello and violin, this Virginia-based band has a powerfully subtle way to keep you musically intrigued.

Songs named “Lullaby”, “Sleeping Moon” and “Instrumental” give you an idea of the gentle nature of their musical style. With a hint of folk, Swing also can remind you of the other great artists like Iron & Wine, Other Lives and Bon Iver, who have mastered the slow but addicting draw of the power of hearing each note. As though every inch of their music has meaning and depth without a flashy outer-coating.

Although it maybe hard for most of us to stop and truly listen, “Through a Fogged Glass” is an album that can easily make its way into our playlists. Whether home or sitting in a park somewhere, this music gives an audio backdrop that would make your eyes want to follow your ears and find the beauty all around. - The Wild Honey Pie

“Singing, planting rice,
village songs more lovely
than famous city songs”

Haiku by Matsuo Basho

We begin with a poem from the Japanese poet Basho for a couple reasons. The beauty of haiku is its ability to capture vastness in just a few simple lines. In this way, less becomes more. For local musician and singer-songwriter Wes Swing both the poet and the idea of less is more are at the heart of the music he makes.

A classically trained musician who began playing violin at the age of 4, Wes Swing is creating a very unique and personal style of music that is unlike most of what I’ve heard in Charlottesville. By drawing together elements of minimalism and modern classical pieces with expressions of folk that are at times reminiscent of the late Nick Drake, Swing hopes to push upon the boundaries of what defines the singer-songwriter genre .

[Wes Swing photo from the artist]

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Wes Swing describes his music as ever-evolving. To begin to understand his sound, one must first have a basic understanding of minimalism as it applies to music. The idea is to create a composition using a little as possible in terms of notes played, instruments used, or lyrics written. The style was popularized by a number of artists beginning in the 1960’s, foremost among them are Phillip Glass and Steve Reich, and both are readily cited by Wes as definitive influences on his sound.

To this end, Wes Swing’s music relies heavily on a limited number of instruments including violin, cello, and guitar (all of which Wes plays in addition to piano). Prior to arriving in the Charlottesville area in 2005, Swing worked on an instrumental piece for eight cellos while living in Boston and in recent years he has been composing a series of themed works that he describes “as short, powerful, and evocative” and center around the idea of family. Through these pieces Wes hopes to highlight how one single idea can be interpreted to possess a wide range of feelings, emotions, and experiences.

Wes Swing [from the artists]And while the modern classical and minimalism paths have clearly been the well-travelled ones, in the last year or so Swing has begun to explore new ground by adding the element of singer/songwriting to the music he writes and now performs. When I mention the Nick Drake reference that I hear in his voice, Wes admits to being a definite fan but he is also quick to point out his love for Bjork and Radiohead, two contemporary artists whose music cannot easily be defined as simply being rock and who both employ aspects of an almost avant-garde quality to their sound. They seem like proper choices for an artist whose own music does not fit so neatly into one well-defined genre.

As the conversation turns to focus on his songwriting, I happen to mention a recent show at the Gravity Lounge that I attended where Wes opened for Paul Curreri. I bring up the fact that I noticed that there was a strong literary component to his writing. As Swing explains it, a great deal of what he writes about is drawn from what inspires him and that in some cases he writes in response to those sources of inspiration. As such, he points to his song “All Other Love” which came to him after reading a quote from T.S. Eliot which reads “all other love finds speech, but this is silent”. In other instances he mentions the song “Ulysses”, which was written as a personal reaction to the themes of Tennyson’s poem of the same name and to the use of Ezra Pound’s “In a Station of the Metro” as the lyrics for one of his songs. When I say that Wes Swing is playing it smart, it can be taken in the most literal of meanings.

But playing it smart doesn’t make it any easier to find a place to perform, especially in Charlottesville where there exists an overwhelming number of artists searching for opportunities to play on a limited numbers of stages. For now Wes is grateful to Bill Baldwin, the owner of the Gravity Lounge, for booking him into a couple opening slots and for giving his music as chance to be heard by a live audience. He calls the Gravity the best room in town for his music because it’s a place where people come to listen and for Wes Swing listening is the biggest and most beautiful reward of all. Your next chance to check out Wes Swing’s live comes on September 16 as he opens for Basia Bulat. Doors open at 7:30pm and the cost is $10.

[You can listen to demos of “All Other Love” and others at Wes’s MySpace page here]

When Wes isn’t writing, recording, or performing his own music, he still finds time to give private lessons to local students in both Latin and in music, play fiddle from time to time in Keith Morris’s band The Crooked Numbers, and hit the surrounding mountains for some well-spent time in the woods. He currently lives in Nelson County with his girlfriend and hopes to have his first full-length album of original material completed by the end of 2008. And as he sees it, the purpose of art “is to connect and make things better.” Here, here - The Velvet Rut