Jim White & Marisa Anderson "Swallowtail"
The duo avoids preconceived movements, instead focusing on their musical conversation. As Anderson puts it, “The ideas aren’t the music, they are the pathway into the musical possibilities.” Their trust in one another and skillful interplay create an effervescence throughout the album. There is an organic ebb and flow to the duo’s motions that brings a sense of serenity and ease to spontaneous transitions, each swell and retraction sounding as free as it does inevitable.
Swallowtail is a journey of steady change. White and Anderson’s preternatural alchemy as a duo allows each fleeting gesture to feel featherlight and stirring while maintaining an inquisitive spirit. Their music is an enchanting and illuminating celebration of process as joy. Swallowtail lives at the precipice of slowly unraveling revelation and the thrilling unknown, White and Anderson finding beauty in pursuit of uncovering the next moment and what possibilities lie ahead of them. The album evokes both the natural setting of its recording and the natural expanses around home. Reminiscent of the grace of its namesake’s movement through the garden’s flora, Swallowtail is a beautiful listen whose depth unfolds with the dance of this astute and untethered duo, guiding us nimbly through nature’s vistas and our dreams.