Swingbridge is the musical vehicle of Otago songsmith Bridget Ellis and friends. Playing solo or with an expandable band, her engaging real-world songs journey through intricate folk to spacious jazz, from punchy rock to uncharted country, and are delivered home with incidental fun.
Ellis discovered her affinity with songwriting as a teenager in the vibrant musical world of 1980’s Dunedin. The power of song to interpret and share the human experience became her touch stone, the impetus and hope for earth-centred social change an enduring muse. A self taught guitarist, Ellis has developed her unique musical style, experimenting with guitar tunings, sounding chords by ear and the rhythm of reflex. This and her authentic lyricism has assured many of these songs an enduring place in her life spanning songbook.
Swingbridge is making an 8 date tour of the North Island this autumn in support of her latest album, The Garden and is delighted to play at Te Rangi, a garden hideway in Whanganui, home to the Peace Through unity Charitable Trust. Ellis will be joined by her partner Chris Meech on baritone sax.
Swingbridge’s 2021’s release The Garden is Ellis’s most ambitious recording project yet. The seeds of the album were sown through Ellis’s collaboration with singer/celtic harpist Lynley Caldwell and later recorded at Roundhead Studio, Auckland and Sublime Studio in the Waitaki Valley. The album was co-produced by Ellis alongside engineer Jordan Stone (NZ Engineer of the year 2019), and features Ellis and Caldwell along with landmark NZ drummer Chris O’Connor, double bassists Eamon Edmundson-Wells and Steve Harrop, with guest singer Steve Abel.
Response to The Garden:
'Ellis is a writer in her prime, and the album is a testament to her talent as a singer-songwriter and instrumentalist.' (Amanda Mills, reviewer for NZ Musician)
'...songs varied and alive; and the album an ecosystem of feeling and meaning.'
(Eddie Robinson, Oh-Oamaru)
Links
Listen to The Garden on Bandcamp
https://swingbridge.bandcamp.com/album/the-garden
Swingbridge website
https://www.swingbridge.nz/
Swingbridge facebook
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100071822510352
