The first thing you perceive when listening to Paulie Swan's small debut is the voice. A deep, warm and enveloping voice, which seems to emerge from an unfathomable cavity, from an almost material depth, which makes space among the sophisticated and elegant folds of a contaminated jazz, becoming a physical presence. If the voice is firm, rooted, powerful, the music rarely allows itself landing points.
Paulie Swan in fact prefers suspended chords, interlocutory passages, building a constantly balanced sound space. It is no coincidence that the strongest sensation that is perceived while listening to “Swans Today” is that of floating in a dreamlike and dilated limbo, in which the vibrations that populate it are those of nostalgia and subtle and persistent melancholy. “Me vs Mothra”, for example, the most beautiful song on the entire album, rather than seeking a direction, seems to inhabit uncertainty and fragility, the same fragility that we find in the lyrics of these beautiful four songs, which talk about shame, insecurity, self-devaluation and perennial internal conflict.
Conceived as half of a two-part project, “Swans Today” sounds exactly like the Scottish artist's attempt to shake off his own negative sensations and to sublimate streams of consciousness, life notes, intimate considerations and images sedimented for months and months, perhaps years. Whether he plays the piano or the guitar, the young Swan creates melodies that are difficult to predict and at the same time hypnotic. Concentric circles into which you can slowly sink, rediscovering the satisfying taste of listening to excellent music. An album for those who love Cameron Winter and King Krule, but also for those who simply want to enjoy new material, written and played in a masterful way. Let's hope they are the first promising signs of something bigger and more ambitious.
07/17/2026
Daniel D`Amico for SANREMO.FM
