The concept of endings has always fascinated Antony Hegarty. From his earliest work, the idea of impermanence, both physical and ethereal, has colored his songs to a large degree. The ideas of changing and declining relationships were a central theme on I Am A Bird Now and an end of life moroseness was evident on the tracks that formed his last album, The Crying Light. Swanlights continues this fascination with various types of endings, but what he really wants, when all is said and done, is to allow some hope to spring forth from the darkness. Much like the somber The Crying Light, Swanlights uses this standing motif of decline to parallel Hegarty’s own preoccupation and observation of the particular niche into which he fits, whether it be physical or spiritual. “The Great White Ocean” rolls and churns under that hypnotic voice, which can convey so much in its quivering timbre. The duet with Bjork, “Fletta”, is one of the more insistently memorable tracks on the album. The stop-start percussion with which both artists are so intimately familiar feels perfectly used on this track to punctuate the feeling of loss and possible redemption. With Swanlights, Hegarty has shown that, despite his down-trodden lyrical approach to life, beneath it all, there lies a ray of hope inside his heart, a want of renewal and rebirth. That an end is only a start to something greater, something hopeful. That without endings there can be no relative creation and without that process of rejuvenation, there can be no hope. Swanlights allows him to show us the buried hope in his heart. And it is tremendous.
Tracklisting:
01. Everything is New
02. The Great White Ocean
03. Ghost
04. I’m In Love
05. Violetta
06. Swanlights
07. The Spirit Was Gone
08. Thank You For Your Love (listen to the mp3 below)
09. Flétta (with Björk)
10. Salt Silver Oxygen
11. Christina’s Farm
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