Sonic Inspirations
Harpist Esther Swift on the fun and the fury behind creativity
FOR harpist Esther Swift, hitting her mid-30s brought something of a revelation. The Edinburgh-based composer, arranger and musician had always put work first, building a name for herself as a collaborator. Drawing inspiration from folk, classical and jazz music, her inquisitive nature and sensitive approach to collaboration took her around the world to Vietnam, New Zealand and Malaysia.
For Sound Effects, commissioned by Celtic Connections in 2022, she worked with folk and electronic musicians to create new compositions inspired by the words of Edwin Morgan, William Butler Yeats and former BBC Scotland Poet-inresidence Rachel Mccrum.
In 2018, to mark 100 years of some women gaining the right to vote in the UK, she created a similar work for Manchester Jazz Festival using the words of then-poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy.
“Like many professional musicians, I’ve been trying to make ends meet for most of my life but now I’m lucky enough to be in a position where I don’t have to hustle so hard anymore,” she says. “Plus, I love to collaborate – it’s like my comfort zone – and putting my own name to something like a solo album was a terrifying idea.”
But then, unexpectedly, Esther had a miscarriage. Amidst the “intense, conflicting emotions” the experience brought she wrote Expectations Of A Lifetime, the title track to a debut album inspired by metamorphosis, the body, womanhood and nature.
“I decided to be open about my miscarriage. Because it’s such a common experience that nobody talks about, but also because as women we are expected to make these huge decisions – about whether to have children, or if we even can – and those choices are often used to divide us.”
That dichotomy is addressed most starkly on Vessels, a
spoken-word track towards the end of album. Over the swirling, almost alien sound of string quartet Vulva Voce, Esther speaks clearly: “My freedom and loss, I honour,” she states, “knowing that one does not negate the other”.
As solemn as that moment is, though, it fits well within the deft sonic tapestry that Esther has created.
Expectations Of A Lifetime is luscious, righteous, furious and funny, capturing a tumultuous period for both the world and one woman in it.
Lateral Flow – featuring Mercury Prize-shortlisted jazz pianist Fergus Mccreadie, the Vulva Voce string quartet and Alex Palmer on drums – is a delicate, uplifting hymn of solidarity and survival, written at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, while Work And Play sends up the government’s misguided series of adverts encouraging artists to re-train in tech.
Some of Esther’s poetry-inspired work appears here, too: a version of Edwin Morgan’s loving One Cigarette rooted in the sounds of nature; and The First Blast To Awaken Women Degenerate, Rachel Mccrum’s poem of the same name born out of protests against sexual violence, accompanied by a Patrick Kenny-led trombone chorus straight out of John Knox’s nightmares.
Esther, who grew up on the same street as harpist Charlotte Petersen, was inspired to pick up the instrument as a child, going on to St Mary’s Music School in Edinburgh before studying classical music in Manchester.
“I like to think of there being three parts of myself. Folk music is my family, classical is my education – and jazz is like my lover,” she says, laughing. “It’s often played late at night, and it’s really sexy.”
Esther will show off the visual element of her work at the launch gig at Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh, on June 14. Working with visual artist Oana Stanciu, sound designer Dave House and lighting designer Sam Jones, the venue will be transformed into a “breathing urban forest” promising to add a multi-sensory element to the music.
“We’re living in an age where a strong visual identity is so important, and I’m lucky enough to be in a beautiful country where there’s loads of inspiration to draw on,” she says.
Expectations Of A Lifetime is released on June 14.
“I love to collaborate – it’s like my comfort zone”