In 1999, classically-trained New York singer/songwriter Swati was getting ready to go back to her hotel after completing a set as one of the Lilith Fair’s Village Stage artists, when someone put a lyric sheet to a Bob Dylan song in her hand. Five minutes later, she was onstage singing backup vocals with Sheryl Crow and a host of popular female acts as part of the show-closing group number. Not having expected to be performing in the number, she felt out of place, and not just because she didn’t know what the song was. “I felt like everyone was staring at me wondering who the girl in the backpack was.” After the set, Chrissie Hynde approached Swati and enthusiastically asked her if she had a demo. She did not.
Shortly after that experience, Swati walked away from playing music altogether, saying that she felt “too comfortable” with where she was musically. But she eventually found herself drawn back, realizing that she was not going to be happy unless she was making music. Though she now regrets her decision to take a break—“I feel like I wasted my twenties,” she says—she also notes that the time spent away made her a much better player, and it is this maturity that has helped her to release her first solo record, Small Gods. It’s a mesmerizing album of nine new songs and features a sparse, haunting cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “I’m on Fire.”
That Swati is a confident and inventive guitar player is a given, especially on songs like “Big Bang” or the album’s title track. Playing a twelve-string guitar with the high strings removed, using only eight strings (with doubled B and high E strings), she achieves what she describes as a “beefy sound” that darts and swirls out of her guitar and sounds far more like a calculated effort to achieve a particular, distinct sound than it does the result of someone who “just doesn’t know guitar theory.” Her delicate voice easily conveys the raw and honest subject matter of her gritty songs. “My lyrics are just honest, I don’t think there’s any other way to be,” she says.
But unlike the days of the Lilith Fair, a hypnotic album of well-crafted songs only gets someone so far in this age of steadily-declining record sales and little video exposure, and more artists are beginning to turn to television as a means of gaining exposure for their records via commercials and as emotional points of reference on shows such as Grey’s Anatomy. While some might consider this selling out, Swati prefers to look at it practically. “Wherever it comes from, you’re still putting out the music,” she says, “the music is getting out there, so I don’t consider it selling out.”
It’s easy to believe, coming from someone who railed against bands feeling like “they need fame to feel like a somebody,” on her MySpace blog after the recent SXSW festival. “Yeah, my manager was pretty pissed off about that,” she notes. “I’m not doing this for the money; music is the only thing I love. I want to play to as many people as possible, in the most honest way possible.”
Now that Swati has returned with a string of tour dates in support of her impressive and expansive solo debut, set for release on May 1 through Bluhammock Music, the question remains: will she send a copy of the record to Chrissie Hynde?
“Maybe I will,” she laughs, “Remember me? I was the girl with the backpack!”
~ John Frusciante
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SWATI's SMALL GODS is released May 1, 2007 on Bluhammock Music.
http://www.swatilive.com.com
http://www.myspace.com/swatilive.com
http://www.bluhammock.com.com
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