Cisco Swank "Pursuit Of" + Interview
☆ By JACKSON WALD ☆
CISCO SWANK IS SITTING AT HOME; a muted blue wall squarely behind him, a beaming smile stretching across his face. On the day we spoke his debut EP, Pursuit Of — a smattering amalgamation of genre and sound, so strikingly representative of the influence of his family, friends, city, and identity — was only a day away from being released. On the eve of the biggest day of his musical career, one may have expected Swank to be nervous or apprehensive; however, that presumption could not have been further from the truth. Everything about Swank is laid-back; he conducts himself with a seemingly effortless swagger and infectious confidence. There is also a sense of unbridled optimism in Swank’s voice; a genuine passion and enthusiasm for his craft, a desire to rise to the level of the musical greats who inspire him.
Swank grew up surrounded by music. His mother was a singer, his father a multi-instrumentalist. As someone who was homeschooled, Swank spent the lion’s share of his time honing his musical abilities, and blossoming as an artist — by four, he was already playing both the pianos and drums. It was when he reached high school — the prestigious Laguardia High School in Manhattan — when Swank fully began experimenting with a wide range of sounds.
“I spent a lot of time working in different genres…,” Swank said. “I was just playing a lot of straight-ahead jazz piano...or I was just rapping, like dropping mixtapes on SoundCloud.”
It was later in High School, closer to his senior year, that Swank was able to realize the direction he envisioned his music moving in.
“Some days [I’ll] be like, oh, shoot, I want to listen to Travis Scott and another day, I'll be like, oh, I want to listen to, I don't know, experimental, alternative rock,” Swank noted. “But just making something that's like, ‘Oh, I want to listen to everything. So I'll just listen to Cisco and be kind of satisfied.’”
It is also the cultural and musical diversity of Swank’s hometown, New York City, that has left a lasting mark on his music.
On one level, there is an imprint of the modern New York rap scene. Swank credits MIKE, the soul-sampling, baritone 21-year-old rapper as his biggest inspiration. His stage name is derived from the Joey Bada$$ song “Hillary Swank.” He even grew up in the same building as the Flatbush Zombies.
However, there is also the presence of an older generation of Brooklyn musicians; Jazz artists such as Max Roach, Herbie Hancock, and Miles Davis, who paved the way for artists such as Swank to flourish.
“It's kind of like a melting pot artistically,” Swank said. “[I’m] Just like drawing from a little bit of everything.”
I asked Swank how he felt about this ever-shifting relationship to his inspirations — especially now, as he was about to release his first project, and in many ways, place himself on the same artistic plane as the contemporary artists he so admires.
He mentioned how crazy it is for him to be meeting and performing with some of the same people he looked up to in High School. One example he brought up was when Braxton Cook — the saxophonist and singer— hit Swank up on Instagram to open up for him in Boston.
“I was just shedding his music every day….And then last year, he just hit me up on Instagram like, ‘Yo, I'm gonna be in Boston playing a show — you trying to open up for me?’ And I was like, ‘Bro, yeah. That's crazy.”
On Pursuit Of, the listener is afforded a glimpse into the mind of Cisco Swank. The EP consists of equal parts abstract and gorgeous imagery, and musings on some of Swank’s guiding principles— religion, sobriety, and the ever-present search for meaning in one's life.
The album, created in collaboration with Tobias Kelly — Swank’s classmate at Berklee College of Music — has two distinct voices; the production and the vocals. The rapport between the two creatives allows for a harmonious marriage of the two.
This “synergy,” as Swank describes, arises from Swank and Kelly being similar in terms of our influences and backgrounds, allowing them to create a genre blending sound.
According to Swank, this EP’s title “Pursuit Of,” is about “searching and longing for whatever you're searching or longing for.”
[It’s about] finding that thing that keeps you going —and also just like the journey to where you want to go,” Swank continued. “...Not even just like artistically, but as a person. It’s just like real-life; the songs kind of sound like every day— some are more chill, some are more aggressive, others are mostly instrumental.”
One thematic element noticeable throughout the project is Swank’s sobriety. By staying true to himself — even in a musical scene and culture that often promotes and glorifies substance use — Swank views it as a way to inspire others to stay true to themselves.
“I think it's a big point of staying true to who I am... it's just like never been something I've done,” Swank said And just representing — because I know there are a lot of kids who are always sober, like not drinking or smoking. And just saying [to them], ‘Oh, you can make this type of music, rap, do whatever, and you don't have to conform to a lifestyle that just isn't you.’ I think that's an important part of it.”
Perhaps the most unmissable part of the project is Swank’s lyrics. In the vein of what one may hear on a MIKE or Earl Sweatshirt song, Swank eloquently crafts both magical, almost verging on absurd, imagery, and exceptionally poignant personal narratives.
“A lot of lyrics, I'll just be walking down the street, and I'll just think of something that sounds cool, then just write it down,” Swank notes. “Or, a lot of times I will be like listening to preachers during a sermon because I think those are, like, equivalent to like the most poetic, like things you can find —just spiritually and in terms of like what they're saying.”
While the project has been out for just over two weeks, and has racked up thousands of listens, Swank has no plans for stopping anytime soon. He plans on releasing a full-length LP either in late 2020 or early 2021. However, what he may be most looking forward to, is the opportunity to perform his music live. Nonetheless, whatever Swank produces next — whether it is alternative rock, rap, or, as he calls it, “big band trap music,” — will be authentically Cisco Swank.
“I'm just always down to do something different,” he said cheerfully; that same broad smile grinning from ear to ear.
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slowthai by Rosie Matheson 🤩 https://t.co/z7SDfFQ5iF
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RT @i_D: Ian Kenneth Bird photographs young punks on Polaroid: https://t.co/MKT0tMUqO9 https://t.co/a0tTl12ML5
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RT @AnOtherMagazine: #DreamHome – this isolated idyll in the mountains of Lanzarote 🌵 📸 via Nowness, photography by Clemence Blr 🔁 https://t.co/GUusdxD0cg
