The Sway Machinery

Hidden Melodies Revealed

2009-05-11

A New York collective (supergroup? Jew-pergroup?), The Sway Machinery is lead by Jeremiah Lockwood of Balkan Beat Box, Stuart Bogie and Jordan McLean from the Antibalas horn section, Colin Stetson (Arcade Fire, Tom Waits) holding it down on bass sax and Brian Chase of Yeah Yeah Yeahs on drums. Colliding the tradional with the non-traditional, Lockwood sings Jewish cantorial lyrics over lush Afro-beat accompaniment, creating some sort of new mystical experience. Bluesy Malian-influenced guitar lines snake around deep horns (check out #5 Tell It All To Me) which blurt out over complex polyrhythms and even if you don't know what Lockwood is singing about (most of the album is sung in Hebrew), you can't help but be moved by it in some way. 3, 10 and 13 are spoken word pieces

More reviews tagged #World

  • reviewed 10/2006

    NATALIE MACMASTER
    Yours Truly

  • reviewed 01/2008

    ANTIBALAS
    Security

  • reviewed 08/2009

    KIMI DJABATE
    Karam

  • reviewed 03/2009

    Mishka
    Above the Bones

  • reviewed 02/2007

    Pistolera
    Siempre Hay Salida (There's Always A Way Out)

  • reviewed 10/2010

    DE TEMPS ANTAN
    Les Habits De Papier

Compiled by the WYCE Journalism Club

The opinions expressed in these reviews are those of the individual volunteers that submitted the article and do not necessarily reflect the views of WYCE or GRCMC; nor its staff, donors, or affiliates.