Mazz Swift - The 10000 Things: PRAISE SONGS for the iRiligious

by Mazz Swift

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Includes digital pre-order of Mazz Swift - The 10000 Things: PRAISE SONGS for the iRiligious. You get 2 tracks now (streaming via the free Bandcamp app and also available as a high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more), plus the complete album the moment it’s released.

shipping out on or around May 24, 2024

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Pre-order of Mazz Swift - The 10000 Things: PRAISE SONGS for the iRiligious. You get 2 tracks now (streaming via the free Bandcamp app and also available as a high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more), plus the complete album the moment it’s released.

Purchasable with gift card

releases May 24, 2024

$7 USD or more
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1.	No More 04:48	buy track
2.	SomeDay School
3.	Eye Woke Up / O Brother
4.	Freedom House 07:36	buy track
5.	Hidden in Plain Sight
6.	Alabamy
7.	Don’I Know-dis…?
8.	BLVK Meditation
9.	New Anthem

about

On Wednesday, March 20, 2024, Mazz Swift, the composer, conductor, bandleader, educator, singer, and Juilliard-trained violinist who weaves classic African-American musics, electronica, and mindfulness into their music, releases ‘No More’ from their upcoming debut solo album The 10000 Things: PRAISE SONGS for the iRiligious via New Amsterdam Records.

The 10000 Things: PRAISE SONGS for the iRiligious is influenced by Swift’s personal relationship with the Ghanaian concept of Sankofa (“to go back and fetch it”), which Swift explains as “looking to the past in order to be able to move forward. Grounding in Who You Are. If you think of me as an arrow, Sakofa is the action of pulling back the bow. The adinkra symbol for the concept is a bird carrying a seed (or precious egg) in its mouth, head turned to look backward, while the feet face forward.”

The Work Songs and Spirituals of the enslaved people that Swift uses as jumping-off points for improvisation and composition serve to connect with their musical ancestors, creating a work that lives in the present moment while acknowledging the past and pushing their sonic palette towards the future. The 10000 Things is densely produced with synths, electronic percussion, experimental electronics, powerfully wailing violin improvisations, and commanding vocals which all come together to create a work that is deeply moving and sonically explorative, yet rooted deeply in tradition.

“Connection to ancestors is complex for Black Americans since there are often not a lot of records for the progeny of enslaved people to reference” Swift says, “so learning slave songs and spirituals is a way to get in touch with my ancestry.” Through the practice of Sankofa, Swift is able to recontextualize these folk songs through the lens of heavy improvisation and experimentation as they explore their role as “a nexus between past and future.”

“We’re constantly having to restore our humanity and that is a huge drive for me to talk about Black Music and giving people the credit that they’re due because it’s so easy to take from people that you don’t really consider fully human. I’m always trying to re-expose the dignity of the people whose music we borrow all the time and to connect that music with the people themselves.”

credits

releases May 24, 2024

All Music and Lyrics by Mazz Swift except where noted:
Tracks 1 & 8: Words and vocal performance by Regie Gibson
Track 9: Conversation between Sisters/Siblings Camille Morrison, Nanette Hill, Mazz Swift and
Allisyn Swift.
Pieces of traditional Slave and Work songs were used in the making of Tracks 1 (No More My Lord), 2
(Give Up the World), 3 (O Brother), 6 (Alabamy), and 9 (Sister Dolly Light The Lamp)
Dona Nobis Pacem - a traditional prayer (Give Us Peace) from Latin mass; traditional melody
All other words/lyrics by Mazz Swift
Programmed, Performed, and Produced by Mazz Swift
Mixed by Chris Hoffman
Mixed and Mastered by Michael Hammond at Figure8 Studios
Artwork by Ben Tyree,

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about

Mazz Swift New York, New York

Mazz Swift is a neuro-emergent composer, conductor, bandleader, educator, singer, and Juilliard-trained violinist, weaving classic African American musics, electronica, and mindfulness into their music

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