Mark Swift

From narcoleptic acid-jazz to histrionic glitches to the melodic keyboard arrangements on dissonant synths littering Ave Mavis, there’s hardly a question as to what Venetion Snares’ Aaron Funk sees in Mark Swift. The Winnipeg electronic mogul imported the limey in late ’06 to populate Sublight’s winter catalogue. One listen of Swift’s Canadian debut should show anyone familiar with Snares how complementary Swift’s production proves to Funk’s even more off-the-wall creativity, toning down the hyperactivity for some of the most plodding but beautiful harmonies on Sublight. "Slip and Slide” turns the volume up past 11 on a noise collage that gets more and more pervasive after starting off as a soft, romantic ride. If anything, Funk should be jealous of the compositional mastery that Swift engenders on tracks like the aforementioned "Slip and Slide,” and in its transition into "Physical Ailments as a Form of Company” incorporating candid vocal samples at the start and sliding into chilling screeches, cackles, and sobs. It’s not that Funk can’t do it; it’s just not the same. Swift does what Funk can only really attempt in performing emotional storytelling through electronica. Where the Snares are more experimental than experiential, Swift’s music is altogether sublimely sentient.