Norman musician Jordin Swanson and his band Mapping The Sky released their debut album “Here And Not Here” on Friday.
Swanson has been working on the album for the past three years, and released his single “Last Bastion” on April 26.
Jordin Swanson headshot.
Inspired by childhood favorites like Nirvana and Smashing Pumpkins, Swanson said he hoped to create an album with a sound like Bob Dylan or The National. He described the genre of “Here and Not Here” as a hybrid of folk, rock and alternative, and explained that he uses poetry to create depth and meaning in his lyrics.
“Some of the songs didn’t exactly call for heavy poetry, but I wanted the lyrics to be good and tell a story that was important to me,” Swanson said.
Out of the 11 tracks on the album, Swanson said that “Novocaine” is his personal favorite and “Fallen Angels” is a close second. “Last Bastion,” “Here And Not Here,” “Burning Down and Leading Role” were favorites among his team.
“('Leading Role') was just really different than all of the other songs on the album,” Swanson said. “It is like a dance song — I am playing keyboard on it, and it sounds like something from 'Stranger Things.'”
Swanson was born and raised in Norman, and has a bachelor's in English from OU, which he explained has been a helpful tool in his songwriting.
“There are similarities you can draw from creating songs to writing a novel: how to set the scene, how to tell the story quickly, how to build tension and how to have payoffs,” Swanson said. “Songs have to go somewhere, novels have to go somewhere.”
The album was released Friday and is available to stream on Spotify.
This story was edited by Emma Blakley and Shelby Emery.
