SWSH - “How You Feel”

SXSW 2020 - OEB Score: 8; Popularity Index: 9

Pairs Well With…SZA, H.E.R., Ella Mai

SWSH’s music is exceptionally smooth, riding around neo-soul and R&B forms on a pair of 2018 EPs and strong string of vibing singles leading to most recent track “Tell Me”. A song that filters classic soul stylings with ambient distance, “Tell Me” is a slinking, looped single and among the more experimental of SWSH’s catalog, paired intriguingly against “How You Feel”, a lounge groover that invites hip hop melodies and rhythms to SWSH’s laid-back, R&B feel. It’s a great vehicle for SWSH’s voice as well, a powerful and nuanced instrumented inflected with jazz twists and blues intonations. While SWSH can clearly wail, their sound is nicely understated and in a tight pocket, a place that naturally matches the midnight-cool tone of their music. A non-binary artist, SWSH also brings a unique perspective to the sultry swing of her music and adds just a twist of subversion to such a naturally smooth sound. (Kevin McStravick)