Music
Discover how Swindle's No More Normal album sprung to life
The UK producer recruits Etta Bond, Kojey Radical, Kiko Bun, Eva Lazarus, Andrew Ashong, Nubya Garcia and more for his impressive new opus.
“Swindle is like a fireball of energy; he just loves the process of creation,” says Butterz founder Elijah, one of Swindle's label bosses.
It’s always been that way with the South London musician and producer. Swindle started playing piano aged eight, built a bedroom studio at 14, and has continued exploring as many musical paths as possible ever since. His musical output is coloured by everything from the early soul and jazz education he got off his blues guitarist father to his deep immersion in London's dubstep and grime scenes.
Despite his already eclectic catalogue, Swindle’s latest album somehow manages to find brand-new territory to pitch up in. No More Normal isn’t just a title, it’s a manifesto. Three years in the making, it’s an attempt to unlock stylistic restrictions by uniting as many different backgrounds, musical traditions and sounds as possible in one genre-blending album.
Swindle was joined in his quest to seek out new roots by an all-star cast of MCs (Kojey Radical, Ghetts, D Double E and P Money), instrumentalists (Yussef Dayes, Mansur Brown, Nubya Garcia, Riot Jazz) and singer-songwriters (Andrew Ashong, Etta Bond, Eva Lazarus and Kiko Bun).
"No More Normal is a statement of unity and collaboration – there’s no one on earth that doesn’t react to music. It’s the one thing we all have in common, the language we all speak," says Swindle, explaining the motivation behind the album's creation.
Running the gamut from orchestral soul and p-funk to grime and cosmic jazz, No More Normal – released on Gilles Peterson's reliably brilliant Brownswood Recordings – is an inspiring celebration of the wild hotchpotch of sounds that make up the cultural landscape of modern Britain.
Watch Swindle's No More Normal in the player above to find out how he and his collaborators forged a new musical community based on unity.
Swindle's No More Normal
© Andrew Harrison
