Esteemed Canadian Actor/Artist Sarah Swire Experiments Alongside Joel Plaskett on Anti-Genre Single “Tight!”

Sarah Swire is a multi-disciplinary artist with work spanning across stage, screen and television. As an actor, Swire is known for The Boys, Anna and the Apocalypse, Murdoch Mysteries, the upcoming Apple TV+ thriller The Last Frontier and Hallmark’s new drama Ripple (the latter two both set for release in 2025). Swire is an art-rock songwriter and storyteller who often incorporates original monologues and word art into their live performance.

Their 2023 debut album, Sister Swire, was produced by Joel Plaskett in Dartmouth, NS. Swire has also toured and performed theatre internationally and has arranged and composed original music for the BBC, Avalon Arts and The National Theatre of Scotland. After graduating from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, they toured with the band Belle and Sebastian and choreographed shows at Radio City Music Hall, Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Scotland’s Olympic Hydro Stadium and Glastonbury Music Festival.

“Tight!” and “The Fish Song” are Swire‘s newest singles following Sister Swire. Full of beefheart-ian lyricism and Burroughs-esque word art, these songs mark a shift in their songwriting and build off the fiction driven narratives heard on Sister Swire‘s “I Shot The President” or “She’s Screaming.” Reminiscent of early Nick Cave records, they are inspired by strange fiction from authors like Joy Williams, Tom Robbins, Lewis Carroll and Ishmeal Reed.

1. What did you enjoy most about the recording process of this new release?

I wanted to make as much noise as possible with an acoustic guitar, an electric guitar and a kick drum. Thomas Stajcer (studio manager, head engineer and mixer for Fang Recording in Dartmouth) understood the assignment. The arrangement was pretty much fully formed. Eric Stephen Martin pulled that Sabbath-esqu riff out of nowhere during the session and the piece found its fully formed legs in about 2 days.

2. Share a nugget of advice that has resonated with you most over the years.
TANGENT: I studied and made theatre in Scotland many moons ago. The theatre there is different than what we’re used to in Canada: it’s punk, it’s confrontational. We had a Russian Classics teacher, Katya, a stoic mountain of a woman who introduced us to ‘naturalism’ and all the new age, method acting styles. She noted that critics and performers often think honest, naturalistic performances are flat and unembellished. Like the less you do for whatever reason, the more real it is? Whereas people are generally…insane. When we are alone, with friends, when angered, when in love. Our habits, actions and words are bonkers. She gave us full permission to be wild. I think about that in every interaction and every job. Just like…being huge and goofy isn’t ‘stylistic’ it’s human. 

3. Who would be your dream artist/band to co-headline a tour with?
I’m not sure but I’d LOVE to meet or get to know: Fontaines DC, Nick Cave, Patti Smith, Run the Jewels, Doechii, and like I know deep in my heart Miley Cyrus and I are best friends in a parallel dimension. Patti Lupone, I love you. 

4. What sets your music apart from others in your genre?

I’m not entirely sure what genre I’m in…we’ve been calling it Spaghetti Doom Folk. If other people find themselves noodling in the same pot hit me up.

5. Tell us what your favourite song is at the moment and why.

The 4 songs on my repeat right now are:
Double Dare – Bauhaus 

CATFISH – Doechii
Hornets! Hornets! – The Hold Steady
Whatever Happened to Pong? – Frank Black
Those songs just absolutely slap. They have so much character. They’re so alive. They’re mean? You know? I like music that makes me scowl. 

Both “Tight!” and “The Fish Song” are in the vein of a style Swire has been exploring, performing original monologues to a live underscore by Eric Stephen Martin and recorded at Fang Recording Studios. Martin plays guitar on “Tight!” along with Joel Plaskett stepping in for an afternoon, playing the mellotron and helping shape the growing madness in both the tracks.

I wanted to make as much noise as possible with an acoustic guitar, an electric guitar and a kick drum. I don’t know what the genre of “Tight!” is, or “The Fish Song.” They exist somewhere in the uncanny valley. Anti-Genre? Singer-Songwriter, Art Rock? Spaghetti-Doom-Folk? – Sarah Swire