The Atlantic Ocean
Album | Richard Swift
A distinctive, quirky approach to those elegant-but-accessible sounds of the ’60s
Contemporary singer/songwriters enamored of vintage L.A. art-poppers like Brian Wilson and Harry Nilsson aren't exactly thin on the ground these days, and many mine that territory with extremely ear-pleasing results. Why then, does Richard Swift seem to gain so much more attention than most? Because he brings such a distinctive, quirky approach to his affection for those elegant-but-accessible sounds of the '60s, for one thing. The Nilsson influence (with a tasty side order of early-'70s Todd Rundgren) emerges most prominently when Swift's oddball sense of humor comes to the fore and his sonic palette widens to include everything from circus-march synthesizer fanfares ("A Song For Milton Feher") to faux-Motown falsetto harmonies floating atop a slow-burning R&B groove ("Lady Luck," easily a song-of-the-year candidate). And while The Atlantic Ocean is more of a full-color production than Swift's previous efforts, the kitchen-sink production aesthetic he employs here still feels agreeably homemade; most importantly, it never obscures the fact that Swift knows how to sink his teeth deeply into a hook and make it bleed pure pop satisfaction.
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