Album Review: The Hex by Richard Swift

The western frontier was an unforgiving place. Each town you rode into seemed to come with its own set of rules you had to navigate and adjust to immediately on arrival. And while this punishing and unpredictable environment often broke people down, it also was animated by a triumphant spirit of discovery and possibility. On Richard Swift's final album, The Hex, recorded before his death in July, the musical polymath conjures this landscape as a powerful paean to the human spirit's ceaseless search for freedom.

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Fearless exploration defined the work of Richard Swift as a producer and collaborator. Working mostly at his National Freedom studio in Cottage Grove, Oregon, he guided singer/songwriters toward their most otherworldly music (Damien Jurado, Kevin Morby) and helped more whimsical acts evolve into wilder forms (Foxygen, the Shins). The records he released under his own name, though, were more straightforward and solitary, if not necessarily somber.

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Depending on what you think should count, The Hex is the sixth solo album by singer/songwriter Richard Swift. A posthumous release, it follows his untimely death at the age of 41 by less than three months. As with his prior solo work, The Hex seems to draw influence from across the history of recorded pop music, but with a focus on Tin Pan Alley, the more nostalgic corners of the British Invasion (i.e., Davies and McCartney), '60s soul, and the wittier side of the singer/songwriter era (Harry Nilsson, Randy Newman).

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After his tragic, still-raw death at the age of 41, Swift's career can be viewed through the lens of finality. The Hex, in many ways, typifies his style but also offers a more refined version of it. He still sings in a classically 'indie' mode (the similarities to Grizzly Bear 's Daniel Rossen are apparent, and he's sometimes a little Bowie-ish), he still incorporates a multitude of timeless sounds and influences into his sound (from Motown to classic singer-songwriter to bar-room piano blooze), and he's still playful and witty, sincere and precise.

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The Hex by Richard Swift Richard Swift died last summer at the age of 41, leaving behind a rich catalogue of performed and produced music. His partnership with Damien Jurado, over the three Maraqopa-themed albums, transformed the latter's art from a spare, rawboned folk into something ecstatic and otherworldly, and he did similar work for the Mynabirds, Laetitia Sadier and Nathaniel Rateliff. His own work was less prolific but also marvelous.

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