John Craigie – I Swam Here (Zabriskie Point Records)
The new John Craigie album I Swam Here, released February 6 on Zabriskie Point Records, is a gentle and luminous soundtrack to start 2026, bringing warmth and quiet strength in the middle of an icy, polar winter.
The Californian whose style he describes as “humorous storytelling, serious folk”—recorded most of the ten songs in New Orleans, with a few completed later in Astoria, Oregon, after he realized they did not yet fully match his original vision.
The first surprise that captures the listener is visual: the album cover (painted by B. Schall) is without a doubt a reference to Puerto Rican abstract and expressionist painter Olga Albizu, known for her artwork on bossa nova and samba albums, reflecting the sensual tone of the music of Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd. It is therefore natural that the opening track, “Mermaid Weather,” recorded in New Orleans, draws inspiration from the warm tenderness of Brazilian jazz rhythms. The crystal-clear sound of a nylon-string guitar merges seamlessly with Craigie’s folk-country songwriting, supported by the piano of New Orleanian Sam Doores of The Deslondes, Johnny Campos on lap steel, and Anna Moss on backing vocals, whom we hear throughout most of the album.
The songs follow one another with both coherence and variety, blending Western ballads in the style of Marty Robbins (“Edna Strange”), political statements (“Call Me a Bullet”), inspired by drives through the Midwest with billboards that were pro-life and pro-gun, folk rock (“Mama I Should Call”, “Dry Land”), and an interesting fusion of folk and jazz, accompanied by a dreamy lap steel on “Fire Seasons,” following in the vein of the opening track. “Fire Seasons” was produced by his longtime collaborator Bart Budwig, with Cooper Trail on drums and Nevada Sowle on bass.
“I Remember Nothing,” with its hovering organ, recorded with a piece of tape holding down the keys because there weren’t enough hands to play it live, evokes the Velvet Underground of the Doug Yule period. I Swam Here ends on an almost timeless note with the smooth “Don’t Let Me Run Away,” featuring a New Orleans jazz clarinet played by Anna Moss, which seems to have come straight out of another time.
John Craigie will be on tour beginning in February—check out his website for more information.
Enjoy some of our previous coverage here: Show Review: John Craigie at The Republik, Honolulu