Singer-songwriter Morgan Swihart unveils her latest long player, Broken Ceilings, revealing elements of folk, ambient, alt-rock, and electronic tangs.
Morgan began early, playing in bands in middle school. When she was 10 years old, she was in a band called Bad Coffee. At the present juncture, she is attending the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music.
Last year, she dropped her debut album, The Grave, followed by her EP, Haunt Me. Broken Ceilings was co-produced and mixed by Albert Difiore, while mastering was handled by Grammy-winner Justin Shturtz. The album features Morgan (guitar, vocals), Pat Gerasia (drums), and Mark Solomich (bass).
Encompassing eight tracks, highlights on Broken Ceilings include the title track, rolling out on a slow, mid-tempo rhythm featuring finessed drumming from Gerasia, whose talent gives the song a syncopated-lite punch. Morgan’s strong, ethereal vocals imbue the lyrics with wistful dreamy timbres that comprise an edge.
A low-slung, blues rock number, “Comfort” allows Morgan to parade her vocal range, ebbing and rising on first lighter colors and then dropping to darker tones. A wailing guitar infuses the melody with melancholic accents.
A personal favorite because of its alt-rock flavors, reminiscent of Liz Phair, “Sharp Objects” projects a brooding imminence, emphasized by the cutting frames of Morgan’s vocals.
Perhaps the best song on the album, “Ghost” flows like a mist through a cemetery, at once shimmering, spectral, and dreamy. There’s a hushed translucence to Morgan’s voice, drifting and gliding on soft, sumptuous textures.
“The Way It Panned Out” ties the album off with more muscle – darker guitars and a heavier rhythm, accompanied by Morgan’s passionate vocals. There’s a grand, blistering, nasty guitar solo in this track.
Shaded with melancholic musings and dripping with elusive urgency, Broken Ceilings is a significant work of art. Good stuff.
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