Inga Swearingen - Let Me Call This Home (2016)

Inga Swearingen's highly anticipated fourth album, Let Me Call This Home speaks of the yin and yang pull of home, having a longing for it, and wanting to leave it to ultimately come home again.

“Sometimes home is a place, other times it's a person. You can long for it, or want to leave it. And songs can take you home or take you far away," says Swearingen. "There is a constant to my sense of home, and it's also ever changing. I love the people I love, and no matter where I am, I carry them with me and I am home. But I also must leave to be able to come back. The songs on this album express this pull and yearning."

Swearingen compares the building of this album to building a house. Pouring a good foundation musically translates into putting down solid grooves on which the songs are built. The album easily interchanges time signatures and feels, giving the arrangements sophistication and intrigue, but always serving the mood and message of the song. Continuing the analogy, walls are then built with rich harmony that is sometimes complex and dissonant and other times simple and nostalgic. These song structures support well-crafted melodies that are the roofs over houses where loved ones gather and experience the many facets of life. It all comes together to create a space that invites you to kick off your shoes and stay awhile in this house of jazz, folk and blues.

The fullness of the album, six original tracks, is the collaboration between Swearingen and Jeff Miley, an imaginative, provocative LA based guitarist who co-wrote, produced and mixed much of the album. Tracks Edge of Town and Wood and Steel uncover the paradox of being away from home to really appreciate it. Swearingen’s own Find My Way Home is a melodic testament to taking what life gives her and handling it beautifully. The song is enhanced with Inga’s signature scatting and the beautiful backing vocals of Moira Smiley. The album mixes in the compelling renditions of 80’s pop hits Message in a Bottle by The Police and This City Never Sleeps by the Eurythmics, connecting the listener to the shared experience of isolation. Ray Charles' I Don’t Need No Doctor delights with a front-porch blues romp featuring the brilliant harmonica playing of multiple Grammy-Award Winner Howard Levy. The last track Short Trip Home with music by Edgar Meyer and lyrics by Swearingen speaks to home by simply closing ones eyes to be with that person that is one's own solace. Altogether, the album is about love, longing and finding your way home.

Tracklist:

1. Message In A Bottle (5:41)
2. Edge Of Town (5:15)
3. Find My Way (4:36)
4. This City Never Sleeps (6:26)
5. Blossom Blue (4:43)
6. Edie (5:32)
7. Wood And Steel (5:07)
8. New (5:14)
9. I Don't Need No Doctor (4:31)
10. Short Trip Home (4:33)