Richard Swift's One-Man Genre

The prolific singer, whose music defies categorization, creates sounds in his own, Swiftian style

Comments (0) By Rena Kosnett Wednesday, Oct 15 2008

I wanted to sample Milton’s voice for an Instruments of Science and Technology track, so I had to call him to clear the rights for that, and we started talking quite a bit, and we’ve been chatting on the phone ever since. And just this last year, we finally met up. He lives in New York, and I was there recording with Mark Ronson, so before the session started, I was, like, “Oh, I gotta call Milton and let him know I’m here.” Turned out I was staying two blocks away from his apartment! So we met, and I had about a six-to-seven-hour session with him. I can’t begin to explain how a connection like that works. It seemed life-altering just to be able to talk to him regularly, but to be able to spend a considerable amount of time together. ... If you wrote that in a movie, no one would ever imagine that it could be true.

The short films Swift made to document the recording process for Ground Trouble Jaw at the Wilco loft, along with various other eccentricities, can be viewed on his Web site, www.richardswift.us. Swift opens for Stereolab at the Music Box at the Henry Fonda Theater on Thurs., Oct. 23.