Independent Student Newspaper for the University of Texas at San Antonio

The Paisano

Independent Student Newspaper for the University of Texas at San Antonio

The Paisano

Independent Student Newspaper for the University of Texas at San Antonio

The Paisano

    SWELL

    Swell

    Wake up wake up get your weight up it’s the first of the month because your friends are here to deliver. The savagery and humiliation behind our costumes are out, done with and are left with October. Its cold shoulder season and XMAS is on our calendars. Jolly and warm-hearted like the spirit in our gothic sweater, our friends decided to add some festive spirit to our SoundCloud. Being the most successful music ground for “trial and error,” SoundCloud offers you a place to either find a poor-quality remix from your favorite independent artist or find that new-new for that swanky feeling. As ambiguous as we can get and as lucrative as we can be, if there is one thing we know about FRIENDS, it is that we cherish hidden gems more than breakfast-for-dinner. We searched SoundCloud’s musical grounds and found new tide in the industry ocean. Producer SWELL’s latest playlist “Think About the Flowers in the Backyard” is that new wave for easy listeners. This is what we felt:

    Swell takes us through a sleepless odyssey in his 10 track EP (think about the flowers in the backyard). The insomniac journey begins in the peak of the night at 3:59 AM with the opening track “This Song Listens to My Heartbeat Through My Chest.” In this track, SWELL plays around with samples to create a previously mentioned easy-listeners vibe.

    For an opener, it brings the right amount of energy and prepares us for wavier drops and synthesizers. A much more personal vibe is felt at 5:48 AM in the track “This Song Said Yes.” However, the producer takes a turn for more energy at 7:26 AM in his track “This Song Looks at Me and My Heart Falls to the Floor.” At 7:26 AM the sun rose and we woke. The track is a FRIENDS favorite, and you’ll know when you hear it. It is very easy on the beat and has the happiest drop at sunrise.

    Swell continues to experiment with heavy drops at 9:49 pm with tracks like “This Song Broke Its Heart with Mine and Left Hope in Its Place” where once again you’re able to feel the easy beat and the heavy drop creep up once it’s settled. Swell peaks at all time music levels at 11:05 AM in “This Song Dances with Me in Our Empty Apartment.” The whole “FRIENDS favorite” is out of question. This track is a FRIENDS theme song; this song is us: easy on the come-up and heavy with the finish. The track is so jazzy; it’s almost right to call you a phony if you don’t feel it. The dialogue in the track is a bond, and the tunes are just an ephemeral encounter. This track is not something like Zedd; it’s Swell on another level.

    As the sun darkens and the night lightens, swell transitions into a darker state at 2:24 PM in the track “This Song Killed Me and Gave Me a Reason to Live.” This song has soul ̶ lots of it. It’s dark but enticing, and it’s dying to birth a hook (artists get at us). At 11:59 PM just before the moon makes its grand appearance and drips matte black outside your window, swell serves us his dark farewell “This Song is Waiting.” The track is an instrumental that feels like a soothing wound and like a playlist that is left best unfinished. Jumping back and forth between sleep and time can be overwhelming and a bit of a rollercoaster. It is a very turbulent wave but we’re glad Swell made it. From sleepless nights to our darkest walks, stay woke and remember: we are your FRIENDS.

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