Composer, multi-instrumentalist, and winner of our most recent Artist of the Month poll David Swick, doesn’t just create music alone in its sonic medium. He paints images with soundscapes. Take a recent track like “Music for Silhouettes” as an example of this. The piece begins with dappling, meandering piano, invoking the beginning of something like a crack in a dam, and slowly but surely builds into an expansive gushing river using the negative, empty spaces to create a sense of openness. His SoundCloud account offers an extensive collection of piano and sting-based compositions that could easily accompany visual stimulation of any kind.
Instrumental composers are few and far between in Nashville’s independent scene, but this doesn’t seem to dissuade Swick from displaying his art in any way he can, whether it be working with The Radial Conservatory, a neoclassical collective that creates immersive environments of light and sound, or playing small house shows. Swick’s outlets for expression prove that he takes his work seriously as art over entertainment, a rare trait for musicians in an environment that often promotes easy crowd pleasing over work that requires authentic participation to receive.
-Andrew Strader