Swim Ignorant Fire’s “Last Days”
Swim Ignorant Fire "Last Days"
With the connectivity of people in this modern age, we are living a holographic dream of realization. Places of the lowest distinction for artistic birthing havens are now becoming palatable and accessible in the deepest ways to generations of interested minds. Musician’s Friend will get you any gear you need and shipped to anywhere in the world. They are just one digital outlet of 1000′s for consumers of electronics and instruments. It’s literally endless now if you are connected to the internet. The world has opened up and this opening has brought the ears of Sound Colour Vibration into the sonically serene metamorphosis of creation known as Swim Ignorant Fire. Stephen Holliger, the lead composer and central member of the group since the groups inception in 2006 sent us materials and all of us were blown away. It’s not often when something completely unknown, unattached to anything we have covered presents something this deep to us. Stephen’s origins reflect this new level of connectivity and outreach present in these spots of little creative evolution. “I’m from the rural Midwest regions of Illinois, where its completely surrounded by flat cornfields for the eye to see. The closest City to my hometown is roughly 45 minutes to Bloomington-Normal, IL” Stephen explained to us in email.
The world is opening up and the digital age has a lot to do with artists like Stephen gaining so much knowledge and influence before the age of academic’s would allow them to flourish in awareness and technique. Stephen is a Post-Production Audio Major at Columbia College. His specialties include film with an emphasis under sound design, foley, mixing, and composition. When I first heard the latest full length from his moniker Swim Ignorant Fire called Last Days, I knew this background in production, film and other forays of the creative arts was a defining element to the quality of tones he achieved on the LP. Prior to this phase of Stephen’s career, Swim Ignorant Fire’s sound leaned towards progressive and angular tendencies, with lush drawings of note configurations and swarming dynamic shifts that relied on a high standard of musicianship. Being a bassist at heart, Stephen has stretched the limitations of his past and broke ground into an amalgamation of many new sounds. This break through reflects tone masters such as Tarentel, Cerberus Shoal, Thurston Moore, the spiritual guidance from the classical arts in the Middle East, the elongated guitar climaxes of Explosions in the Sky along with the unique approaches to the guitar from musicians like John Frusciante and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez. Experimental IDM, acoustic groundings and gardens of electronic psychedelia all submerge themselves together as one spirit. The splits and full lengths over the last 5 years have shown Stephen Holliger in constant search for something new. He is a musician with a bag full of endless approaches to sound and a dedication to making sure each one used is just perfect. Regardless of the influences mentioned though, Stephen has made Swim Ignorant Fire its own brand with musical achievements that spread the full gamut.
Swim Ignorant Fire Live
Fast forward a few years from the inception of Swim Ignorant Fire and the arrival of Last Days comes into the world. A long lasting birth, this album conveys space, atmosphere, emotion and texture and is completely instrumental, a departure from the beginning of the group. Released on Scotch Tapes along with the other releases in his catalog, Last Days provokes nostalgia in sound and drives deep into a cosmic working of enlightening proportions. Long brush stroke like swirls pull curtains of ambient and warm shades second after second. The opening sequence ‘Last Day of Man’ sets the tone for the thick, foggy and vibrant guitar music that lays ahead on the album. A few minutes in and the mix is saturated with synthesizers that float a top the rotating theme that slips in and out of consciousness and spectral analyzing. The backwards synth and guitars in the piece ‘Easy As Breathing’ are another stunning feature to Last Days. There is so much sound being processed that it can all seem chaotic, but the closer you dive int the closer you realize everything touches every part of the mix in the most harmonically perfect way. No sound is extra or too much but becomes an integral piece to a puzzle that sub divides itself the closer you look in.
Last Days is a record anyone into modern rock music will enjoy. Released under small numbers and available digitally, add this to your collection for something new, exciting and fresh in a world of ever expanding ideas in the name of electronic and acoustic instruments. Like any artist in motion, an album release can only reveal what the future has in store. When asked about the future, Stephen had the following to say. “I plan on resorting back to bass and possibly doing something completely different with Swim Ignorant Fire. Ideally, its looking like Overdriven Bass Loops with live drums – and just a heavier pummeling version of what Swim Ignorant Fire is – and just keeping the atmosphere and mood still very distinct to what Swim Ignorant Fire has always revolved around… Everything that fuels me musically is a particular emotion or mood that has always carried with me – playing live is always interesting – because there is always atleast 3 people in the crowd that really “get it” and by that I mean they sometimes call it a “spiritual” feeling or epiphany – This means a lot to know that this instrumental music is still taking them to a place elsewhere.
Stephen Holliger
‘Fructos’ was the piece on this album that hit me the hardest upon initial contact with the record. ‘Fructos’ starts with a looped guitar part is reversed and each cycle presents a new layered guitar. This is what most reminded me of the collaboration with John Frusciante and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez. The final guitar that is layered over is the only one that doesn’t find itself treated under a loop and plays all over the mix, never stopping for one idea. Vocals are present but interact with the music shape wise, conceptual song writing is abandoned and the new age experimental rock funk common place to many Frusciante jams ensues in full. Probably one of the oddest additions to the album is the synthesizer and acoustic heavy piece ‘I’m All Better’. Auto-tuned vocals and a crazy low end, it’s a really odd song that works really well considering the heavy drift that comes along with most of the album. ‘Man Made Abomination’ is an incredible closing to the album and is the darkest of the bunch. Spark plugs and falling pieces of building are a mental state I get from the percussive attack and electronic energy from the entire piece. There is an omnipresence of destruction, one that reflects the concept of the title itself. Highly recommended for those who love dense and labyrinth filled listens.
- Erik Otis
swimignorantfire.blogspot.com
swimignorantfire.bandcamp.com
