Swami (2025)
As the years have gone by and more music by John Reis has entered the world, I've found that I've had an increasingly difficult time writing about new records and finding ways to describe said music accurately or interestingly. His bands have been such a gigantic part of my life for over 30 years now, and the sounds that he crafts are in a way part of the lifeblood that keeps me functioning day to day. I realize that sounds a little heavy handed and perhaps kind of stupid, but I guess what I'm trying to say is that if there's a soundtrack to my life, John is absolutely one of its main composers.
Time To Let You Down is is third record as Swami John Reis including a one album detour as Swami & The Bed Of Nails. Of the the three, this one is my favorite. The first album, Ride The Wild Night, was build on top of a lot of acoustic guitar and piano. The second, All Of This Awaits You, was more electric with a focus on tight, economical songs. This third one probably has more in common with All Of This Awaits you sonically, but with a more diverse array of song styles. There's tight, hook filled pop songs like "Prince of the Parade" right along side of slower, more deliberate songs with noisier guitar bursts like "Fed to the Dogs."
There's so much to love here and it's definitely the record that has gotten the most repeated listens for me so far this year. There's even a cover of the Kamen Rider theme song. He'll be in NJ next week and I'm really looking forward to hearing these new songs live.
Regarding the different versions released, the main release that's in stores is a limited to 1500 copies pressing on yellow swirl vinyl. There are an additional 500 copies that are limited on black vinyl. 300 of these were sold via the Swami webstore and the remaining 200 copies are being sold on the upcoming tour dates. And if you want to hunt even more, 136 random orders from the Swami webshop also received a Swami Mystery Wax 7". These are 7"s that the Swami has affixed a label onto so that you don't know what it is until played. These are typically older 45s and my copy ended up being "My Meloncholy Baby" b/w "Really Need Your Love by The Marcels. A fun little bonus.
Swami John Reis - Time To Let You Down:
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=uOIpCbqDL-w
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