Label: Velvet Blue Music

Release Date: May 2003

Website: www.richardswift.us

Richard Swift - The Novelist
Lars Gotrich

I immediately fell in love with "Lady Day" the very first time I heard it. The soft Vaudeville-ian piano accentuated with the euphoric swell rose within me a beautiful feeling of nostalgia for nothing in particular. It's like the flicker of the film reel as you coo with your lover in the back seats of the theater. It's like finding a mysterious 45 marked "Personal" and taking absolute pleasure in playing the innermost secrets of the owner's acetate. I played "Lady Day" over and over again until every note could be plucked out of the air, but soon found out I couldn't possibly hold onto everything at once, so I just let the music be.

The Novelist is a joyous, albeit short, affair full of delightful instrumentation that doesn't come off as kitschy. The banjo on "Sadsong St." evokes silent film music with Swift's voice slightly slurring like a sad ragtime singer.

"Blues for Mother" begins what would be side B on a record with a child's music box and some of Swift's interesting background noises, which really make the album.

The title track truly shows off Swift's skills at the piano. "The Novelist" waltzes in 3/4-time like a couple on a cobblestone street under a dim-lit lamp as an accordion follows the memorable melody (a concept most songwriters have forgotten).

This is the kind of album I hope everyone gets to hear at least once, even if by mistake.

Holiday in 1938
Oh, could you tell me, lady,
could you fall in love?

posted 10.25.03

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Lars is a viking. He is also the music editor for Tangzine. E-mail him kisses at lars59@uga.edu

2003 White Elephant Productions