The recording project of Portland, Oregon based songwriter David Swick, DoomFolk StarterKit started as an exercise in creativity. Challenging himself to write a song within an hour, Swick would record the result on his iPhone and upload the track to Bandcamp, aiming to bypass the self-doubt and urges to edit his work in order to embrace the more intuitive side of the practice. The rules changed slightly for 2020 EP SleepyGhost, but the self-imposed limitations remained as the five songs were recorded within twenty-four hours.
This year saw Swick team up with Nashville label Like You Mean It Records, releasing a cover of Gillian Welch’s ‘Look At Miss Ohio‘ as part of a sampler before moving on to create new DoomFolk StarterKit material. The process for these new songs is different from what came before, as highlighted by the latest single, ‘Sun Self’. Because while previous releases aimed to excise second-guessing, the new track is a collaborative effort, with Allie Cuva (Allie), Bennett Littlejohn (Bendrix Littleton, Hovvdy, Katy Kirby), Lou Turner and Trevor Nikrant (Styrofoam Winos) all lending their talents.
With its warm and reflective rhythms, the track retains the intimate tone of previous DoomFolk StarterKit releases, though there is a newfound tension too. The song “centers on the two-sided coin that is an introspective reflection,” Swick explains. A questioning of self-contemplation, or at least a firmer understanding of its implications. “[Introspection is] an absolutely healing practice that can carry destructive potential when one sits in it too long,” Swick continues, “where it moves from meandering rumination to self ruination.”
This lasting sentiment is shot through both the creative practice and the song itself. A reminder that stepping outside of one’s own thoughts is sometimes needed. That ideas and problems can be shared, others invited to help.
and it feels like
I should take a break from my brain
Cover photo by Savannah Kee, lower photo by Emily Barrett