About a month ago, Max Swan’s latest project dropped. An EP of choice cuts from Slow Jail, Swan’s 2021 album, Heaven is one of those projects that had a lot of history attached while also breathing new life into both Swan’s creations and the music genre as a whole. I love the live, almost-jam band feel Swan and his collaborators give us on this project. The project plays like a combination of a Tiny Desk (specifically artists like Mac Miller in how introspective the performances are and become because of the intimate atmosphere) and an Unplugged album in some ways.

What makes this project stand out to me is not only the aesthetic of it, but also where it was recorded and filmed. Filmed at the famous St. Michael’s Parish, we’re given another layer to the songs presented here. I mean, they were already deep. Filming the visuals/recording the live versions in a church adds an additional importance to the songs that, in some ways, was buried until we got to hear the live versions take shape. You could argue that the recordings in the church give the tracks a sort of religious experience to them.

If you’re like me, you’ll give this one a listen–and a view–so do so and support dope music in all its forms.