April 29th, 2009 6:59am
It’s So Hard To See Where To Go
Richard Swift “The Atlantic Ocean”
“The Atlantic Ocean” is bouncy, assertive and smooth, which is more or less the impression its character wishes to convey to the world at large. He’s terribly self-conscious, but he’s making it work for himself — he’s insinuated himself into a scene, he’s built up his social and cultural capital and he’s ready to spend. He may not be fully at peace with his studied affectations, but he’s become what he wants to be, and that is something to be proud (and envious) of, given how much courage it can take to actually go through with such a thing. Maybe he’ll get lucky, and he’ll eventually get to the point when he, as Courtney Love used to sing, will be able to fake it so real he’ll be beyond fake.
Buy it from Amazon.
4/30/09 2:27 am
This article makes no sense. How is Richard “terribly self-conscious”? How has he “insinuated himself into a scene”? What scene? The Mark Ronson-Wilco-Ryan Adams-Sean Lennon Scene? This record is great. Props to Richard for making it (pretty much on his own btw). Did he offend you personally or something? This “review” doesn’t tell me about the songs… the sounds quality… the lyrics… nothing. I recently met Swift at a Vetiver show, and he was quite the gentleman… and a completely selfless performer. The show blew me away. This article sucks. YOU NEED TO QUIT. HA HA
4/30/09 6:05 am
Jennifer, I am writing about whatever character Richard Swift is singing as in that song. It could be Swift writing from his own perspective, or not. That’s neither here nor there. I’m just responding to the words and sound of the song, and what it means to me, rather than focus on the writer. I figured that this was abundantly clear when I used the word “character” in the first sentence.
It’s weird to have to explain this, but this is a very positive review!
4/30/09 11:09 pm
Oh my. What do all my guy friends say? “My bad” I love this CD and thought you were dissing it for no good reason. Sorry. Your explanation makes sense. Who do you think the character is? Seems like he’s taking a jab at either New York fashion bands or English fashion bands. Maybe just taking a jab at posers at large?