‘You are here again, and I am drunk on your tobacco lips,” sings Esther Swift in One Cigarette, a standout track from the harp-playing singer-songwriter’s recent album, Expectations of a Lifetime. It’s a wonderful line, capturing a sense of someone overwhelmed by competing desires: booze, fags, love – three of art’s pillars. The song is Swift’s but the words are by Edwin Morgan (1920-2010), one of the leading figures of Scottish poetry.
“Morgan’s a hugely inspiring character for me,” says Swift, who tours New Zealand until November 14. “It’s a simple observation of the world that is beautiful, and I crave simplicity and simple observation in my life and really seek space for that.”
Swift has been favourably compared with Kate Bush and Björk, clear touchstones and company she’s happy to keep, though their music is neither observational nor simple. A closer New Zealand equivalent might be someone like Tiny Ruins’ Hollie Fullbrook. But where Fullbrook’s songs are veiled in metaphor Swift’s are revealingly biographical. She believes she owes it to her audience.
“It’s a huge responsibility putting music into the world,” Swift says. “You’re offering this gift so it has to come from somewhere real.”
The spoken-word Vessels is about Swift’s 2023 miscarriage. Real enough for you? Vessels is the clearest example of Swift confronting the world on her own terms, but what does she gain from laying herself so bare?
“As well as being cathartic and a way for me to release some of the darker things in my life, it’s also a way to express what’s important to me. And I hope by doing that I express some kind of commonality with my community.”
Swift mentions community a lot and it’s a central theme of Expectations of a Lifetime. It wasn’t always her way. Earlier in her career, Swift was internationally focused; the pandemic changed that.
“I was really inspired [during the pandemic] by my community, the music community in Edinburgh, just from what we managed to achieve when everything shut down. We still did quite a lot online together. I guess I had time to reflect on what was important to me and since then I’ve worked much more in Edinburgh and I really value that change in perspective.”
Swift grew up in the Scottish borders and studied at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, but Expectations of a Lifetime is her response to the city she chose for herself. The first track, Opening, is rollicking Celtic folk, highland pipes and all, but to Swift the song is even more deeply rooted in Edinburgh. “When I think of that song I see the hill behind my house, Arthur’s Seat, because that’s where I was when I wrote it,” she says. “Edinburgh has a very tight but eclectic music community and I wanted to knit that fabric together in this album. So it celebrates local jazz musicians, local folk musicians and local classical musicians.”
In Aotearoa, Swift will have none of that collegial support – it’ll be just her and her harp. Well, her and someone else’s harp. “You can travel on a plane with a harp but it’s not worth it,” she says. “It’s too terrifying and too expensive.” It’s her third trip here and the first time she’ll play festivals, appearing at Wellington Jazz Festival, Nelson Arts Festival (October 23 & 25) and New Plymouth’s Spiegel Fest (November 14), alongside smaller regional gigs.
“I’m excited about branching out to festivals and bringing intimacy to that space, which is a challenge. I’ve been busily transcribing the album material for solo harp, thinking about the energy I was conjuring in the string quartet and trying to make it more harp-y.”
Travelling the world, playing the harp, singing – is this the dream? What are Swift’s own expectations of a lifetime?
“Here in the UK, there’s a general sense of creeping dread, particularly in the arts scene,” she says. “It’s getting harder to justify taking the time for observation and space in our lives, and to make good art you need space, you need time and you need to have a playfulness to be able to access that in your life. So that’s what I want: to remember what’s important and not get bogged down in the nonsense, and just remember how lucky I am. I’m fortunate to be living in peace and to be able to make music. I want to feel that.”
Esther Swift tours New Zealand until November 14. See NZ Harp Society for details.
