This feature is a part of Ocean State Sessions.
Courtney Swain was in Los Angeles when we first spoke to her about performing on Ocean State Sessions. Her band, Bent Knee, was in the midst of a cross-country tour for their new album “Twenty Pills Without Water”.
If you listen to any of Bent Knee’s music over its 15 years and seven albums, Swain’s powerful voice is a commanding presence. If you want to get the full scope of what she’s capable of, I’d recommend checking out their song “Not This Time”.
“When I’m touring live, there’s nothing like singing at the top of your lungs.”
The energy needed for an extensive tour is balanced by the calmness of Swain’s home in Cranston, where she shows us her studio space. It’s adorned with various hanging audio cables and a table lined with brightly colored voice pedals. For the last few years, this has been the space Swain is exploring.
“Singing through pedals (and) improvising through pedals is just sort of a sublime experience where I just really feel like I’m present and I am just reacting and a part of just this flow state.”
When in this flow state, Swain’s voice often skews softer, with a lighter touch compared to many of the powerful songs she performs in Bent Knee. She says it’s allowed her to better explore her own musical identity. The production skills needed to perform with pedals and loopers have also opened her up to different possibilities in music.
“I think my primary identity within music was to be a performer and to be sort of a songwriter,” Swain says, But that’s been shifting a little bit, especially as I grow older and think about maybe I don’t want to be traveling all the time. I’ve been getting more into composition and production work.”
Swain was given the opportunity to explore new musical avenues in 2021 when she was awarded a grant through the Rhode Island Foundation’s Robert and Margaret MacColl Johnson Fellowship Fund. The grant supports emerging artists, and each year is awarded to different disciplines within the arts.
“I was really stunned. It’s one of the nation’s largest, no-strings-attached grants for musicians. And to me, it felt like this really big thumbs up from the universe and the authorities who be to just say, ‘Hey, what you’re doing is important and it’s valid and this can be you.’”
Check out Swain’s performance from Season 5 of Ocean State Sessions, with her pedals and loopers in full force:
