Richard Swift is one of California’s many rag-and-bone rockers. His
obsession with creating complex, lo-fi, four-track orchestrations is
reminiscent of the old junkyard-rock experiments of Stephen Malkmus,
Money Mark and Beck. Swift has dabbled in this bargain approach to rich
and messy music over eight full-length albums and nine EPs and singles,
constantly changing genres (folk, electronic, ’60s pop, even Jamaican
dub) and names (Onasis, Dicky Ochoa, Instruments of Science and
Technology). But his latest album is his most mainstream and focused
yet.
This time, Swift is fixated on kitschy, piano-driven power-pop,
aping the ivory melodies of everyone from Elton John to Daryl Hall with
a sort of Ween-like sarcasm. The album is a huge departure from 2008’s
Richard Swift as Onasis, an awesomely long and brazen homemade
garage-rock project. These new Ocean songs fall into two bodies
of water you might associate with Randy Newman: sad ’70s-style piano
ballads (“Already Gone” and “The End of an Age”) and indulgent yuppie
’80s pop (“The Atlantic Ocean” and “Hallelujah, Goodnight!”). The album
is easily his most accessible and polished; it even has guest stars
like Ryan Adams, Mark Ronson, Sean Lennon and Wilco’s Pat Sansone (all
on “Ballad of Old What’s His Name”). It shows Swift can make a concise
and radio-friendly rock record when he wants to, stepping out of his
basement and into the sunlight of popular and credible indie
musicians.
— Keith Gribbins
This article appears in Apr 15-21, 2009.
