Media

The Sway Machinery: P'sach Lanu Sha'ar (Audio)

11:22 a.m. · August 29, 2008 · by Ethan Stanislawski

If you're going to call The Sway Machinery a "supergroup," it may be difficult to do so with a straight face. Yes, it contains members of the Yeah Yeahs Yeahs and the Arcade Fire—but lest you think they include any guitarists or singers or something of the sort, instead we get YYY's drummer Brian Chase and Arcade Fire saxophonist (an intermittent one at that) Colin Stetson. My standard for a supergroup involving these bands would require either Karen O. or Win Butler, and nothing less.

But as for the music, Sway Machinery's "P'sach Lanu Sha'ar"'s an interesting mix of Jewish cantorals, Afro-Pop, and old-time blues. It's less sparse than the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and more experimental than the Arcade Fire, even if it lacks the universal appeal of those bands. But it does certainly sound like a good use of YYY and Arcade Fire's names to promote something pretty interesting.

[Stream The Sway Machine's P'sach Lanu Sha'ar here]