About Gwen
Gwen Swick’s music is a shifting palette of cabaret, folk music, country music, art pop, gospel music, nonsense, torch and retro Tin Pan Alley – and it works. Her voice enchants and her songs captivate as she turns the ordinary business of life into an intimate examination of the shared human condition, imbuing each moment with a heightened sense of reality.
Complete musical worlds, Gwen's songs are spacious, with melody lines playfully looping in and out and around lyrics like prairie breezes in high summer. The Globe and Mail says “Swick’s songs are pure delight,” and Stuart McLean agrees: “I heard a song of Gwen’s that knocked my socks off. I sat in the car and couldn’t get out till the song was over.”
Gwen performs as a solo artist, writes vocal arrangements and poetry, and is a member of Quartette and the Marigolds. Her three critically acclaimed solo releases, Gwen Swick (1993), A Pebble of Mercy (1995), and Love and Gold (2002), have grabbed the attention of listeners and critics alike. (See What the Critics Say, below.) She is a rare bird – a poet with an exceptional melodic sense and what the Toronto Star calls a “mesmerizing voice,” a voice that is warm and pure and supple, with a rich timbre all its own.
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Biography
Gwen was born in Winnipeg. Her father was in the Armed Forces, so she managed to live and travel all across Canada. Although known primarily as a songwriter and vocalist, Gwen’s musical background includes guitar and electric bass, viola da gamba and East Indian singing.
In addition to her solo career, Gwen recorded five albums during the early 1990s with the traditional folk trio Tamarack. In 1996, she joined Sylvia Tyson, Cindy Church and Caitlin Hanford in the popular vocal group Quartette. Constant recording and touring as a solo act and with other groups has put Gwen on stage at prestigious festivals and concert halls across Canada and Europe, including Germany’s Women in (E)Motion Festival, Dawson City Folk Festival, Edmonton Folk Festival, Vancouver Folk Festival and many others.
Gwen’s work is featured on a number of film soundtracks. “I Should Feel Empty,” from A Pebble of Mercy, appears on the soundtrack CD of the movie Never Talk to Strangers, starring Antonio Banderas and Rebecca DeMornay. “Call,” from Love and Gold, was written for Terrance Odette’s award-winning Canadian feature Heater. Her music has been choreographed for dance and she has composed music for stage and film, including original music for the National Film Board.
She has been a guest on many CBC Radio shows including Morningside with Peter Gzowski, Swinging on a Star with Murray McLachlan, Stuart McLean’s Vinyl Cafe, Heartland and Performance. Her music is heard on radio across Canada, the U.S., and throughout Europe. Gwen works as a writer, vocal arranger and singer for other recording artists and vocal groups. She has written and arranged music for children in dramatic performances, and conducted songwriting workshops for children.
What the Critics Say About Gwen Swick
Hones in on the human condition better than any of a thousand better-known writers… mesmerizing… voice evokes a sense of wonder… poetry that seizes simple snapshots of seemingly throwaway moments to tell of life’s larger stories.
Toronto Star
World-class vocal arrangements, haven’t heard better on any
million-dollar pop project… lead vocals are intense and
touching, and her songs glow with liberal applications of craft
and imagination.
Georgia Straight
Gorgeously loopy grooves… densely textured, with nuance built
upon nuance… turned boisterous beer tent into an intimate
concert hall. Heartachingly beautiful… ranging over folk,
country, jazz, blues and rock idioms with equal proficiency…
hip, intelligent and sophisticated, equal parts whimsy and
serious commentary with a feminist edge… exquisite express of
intense emotion.
The Record (Kitchener-Waterloo)
One of the most imaginative singer/songwriters in the country… music wonderfully illustrates themes that strike at the music-lover’s heart: betrayal, pretension, loneliness, isolation, self-righteousness, grief, then love and faith and courage and mercy… her metaphors bear an authority, maturity and experience missing from the lyrics of many of her contemporaries.
Unusual beauty… vocal impressionist… raw, fresh vocal charge that brings her song material into prominence.
RPM MagazineEmotionally appealing, promise of mystery… jazz imprinted pieces… poetic, intricately and analytical (texts).
German review of live performance
Gorgeous music and Swickian silliness and philosophy too… You sing with the Aurora Borealis.
Mendelson Joe
