DoomFolk StarterKit’s ‘SleepyGhost’, a five song EP written in 24 hours, is proof that trusting intuition to lead creativity is well worth it.
Stream: ‘SleepyGhost’ – DoomFolk StarterKit
For a lot of musicians, writing a song takes time, often involving edits and rewrites. In an effort to “eliminate [his] self-editing tendencies,” Portland, OR based artist David Swick started DoomFolk StarterKit: A project where songwriting has strict time constraints. His latest creation, a five song EP written in 24 hours entitled SleepyGhost, (out on Bandcamp May 18, everywhere May 20, 2020), is proof that trusting intuition to lead creativity is well worth it.
you’re doing it, you’re all doing it
more and more every day
push those rain clouds away
ring a call to the fam
cause we all wanna hear all about it
“You’re Doing It, You’re All Doing It,” DoomFolk StarterKit
Atwood Magazine is proud to be premiering SleepyGhost, the latest from David Swick’s DoomFolk StarterKit. The project began a few years ago, when Swick decided to write a song and record it on his iPhone in just one hour, and then immediately release it to Bandcamp— no matter what the finished product was. DoomFolk was designed to be an exercise in trusting instincts, and over time, Swick has leaned into that trust, continually evolving the confines in which he writes songs.
Though he originally set out to use old demos he’d saved as voice memos for this EP, Swick was inspired by the Lady Gaga documentary and decided to build off of the original “one song in one hour” rule. With a new challenge to write five songs in 24 hours, Swick wrote SleepyGhost, and the end result is a peaceful folk meditation. Each song is thoughtfully composed—but not overthought—and beautifully brief. Track one, “IcePack,” is only 43 seconds, but Swick says all he needs to say in the form of a poetic observation over acoustic guitar.
need to refresh
the ice on our foreheads
but we shrugged it off
cause we wanna pretend
there’s nothin left
that can do us harm”
“IcePack,” DoomFolk StarterKit
“SleepyGhost,” the title track, unveils the internal battle of wanting a sense of home and feeling frustrated when it doesn’t come easily, its nexus plainly stated in the final line: “I can’t stress it enough, stay in the conflict” before the strings fade to static. The EP finds a bright spot with “You’re Doing It, You’re All Doing It,” like a sunshiny pat on the back giving gentle encouragement to anyone who might listen, and closes with “The Streets Of Who Cares What,” a string of thoughts about what heaven’s like. In the end, an easy decision falls that if there are streets, it won’t matter what they hold: Swick will “go around just walkin like la la da da duh la da la la da da duh.”
SleepyGhost is a testament to the legitimacy of our gut feelings, our first ideas, and our creative notions, and it’s available to stream today, exclusively on Atwood Magazine.
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:: stream/purchase SleepyGhost here ::
Stream: ‘SleepyGhost’ – DoomFolk StarterKit
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? © Savannah Kee
