The Atlantic Ocean is essentially a great EP with a load of gunk jammed in its grill. It’s a throwback song that doesn’t sound like a throwback song – it’s legitimate R&B gold.
The closer, Lady Luck, is even better – opening with a simple two-note bassline, it sounds like Swift’s album was hijacked by Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings, although I’m pretty sure that’s Swift singing in perfect Motown falsetto. The End of an Age regresses back to the same old Spoonisms, but it sounds just a bit more refreshing in its new surroundings.Īnd, just like that, there is another fantastic explosion with A Song For Milton Feher, a damn fun, olde-tyme tune that in a parallel dimension could have definitely been an alternate theme song to the show Cheers. It gets better from there with the folksy The First Time, which has some real, driving momentum behind its road trip riff. The first sliver of hope arrives with Hallelujah, Goodnight!, which is still a piano-heavy dance song but with a notably thoughtful hook and some decidedly en vogue synths. That’s when the oddness of The Atlantic Ocean sets in – it’s quite significantly backloaded with some real standout pop songs – some that don’t even rely on piano! This is how the first half of the album progresses, which may as well be one epic piano dance instead of five little pop songs due to their interchangeability. That’s a lot of quirk, and it’s fun but never really fulfilling, like a sweet snack that makes you hyper for a bit before it leaves you like a thud. It should be said that Swift’s hoppity piano-led pop tunes lasso together the quirkiness of post-Beatles Paul McCartney and the, well, the quirkiness of Spoon. But Swift’s latest album, The Atlantic Ocean, sounds tirelessly like someone who can see the light but can’t reach it, dancing around it fervently but never getting any closer to the finish line. There’s potential here and catchy hooks abound. I suppose I can see what Jeff Tweedy saw in Richard Swift when he invited Swift to tour with Wilco in support of their 2007 album, Sky Blue Sky. Richard Swift The Atlantic Ocean (Secretly Canadian)
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