Swati Sharma: from trombone to guitar

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The Atypical Songwriting for Swati Sharma

Swati Sharma doesn't necessarily love Bruce Springsteen. The out singer-songwriter may be from the East Coast and sport a jean jacket on her album cover, but her decision to record the Boss' "I'm On Fire" for her debut LP was just a compulsion.

"I got dumped really badly and I had the flu," Sharma said. "I was couch-ridden, really depressed and really, really sick. I'd heard 'I'm on Fire' five or six times in my life, and I think I picked up the guitar and I was almost, not covering it, but playing it because it was in my head again. I just played it the way I heard it in my head. I didn't have a copy or anything like that."

On Sharma's debut album, Small Gods, her version of the desire-and-desperation tune sits alongside tales of picking up prostitutes in Atlantic City ("Blackjack") and aching to leave behind a town full of heartbreak ("Dodge"). It's an album devoid of boring clichés and repetitive rhymes. Instead, Sharma is more akin to Diane DiPrima and other Beat poets who weren't afraid to touch on topics of lust, greed and emotional abuse.

"I've always heard songs in my head," Sharma said. "They just became so loud that I had no choice but to make it a physical thing."MORE

Stay - Swati

Review of Small Gods

Following in the footsteps of influential female alternative songwriters Joni Mitchell and PJ Harvey, Swati mastered the guitar quickly and began writing acoustic songs with a natural passion. Much like Joni Mitchell, Swati is known to use a twelve-string guitar with open tunings, often laced with effect pedals. Though she would later incorporate keys and percussion into her work, Swati’s initial beginnings in her self-titled debut album in 2005 were often bare with a natural melodic charm, showcasing a strong songwriter resembling the rare combination of talent for both melody and engaging lyrical content. As contradictory as it may sound, Swati has defined her sound as “acoustic metal”, though it sounds more realistically like an edgier version of today’s female alternative songwriters. If one were to specifically compare, Swati could resemble a rougher version of Tori Amos or a less ambitious PJ Harvey, though Swati’s naturally gifted approach makes it truly and justly her own.

An openly gay artist, Swati shows no hesitation to reveal her personal life in interviews and conversations. Whether she informs listeners of unique experiences, such as her first orgasm at the age of five, or her hitting on babysitters as a young child, Swati is a fascinating character who incorporates her entertaining confidence in her often poetic lyrics and melodic charm. She often incorporates touches of sarcastic romanticism to her lyrical content, frequently criticizing society’s flaws, whether it be the inhumanity of superficiality, dishonesty, or baseless hate. Swati’s second album, Small Gods, appears poised and truthful from an artist who never appears afraid to speak her mind.

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here! with Josh and Sara: Swati Clip 1

here! with Josh and Sara: Swati Clip 2 (Song is Black jack)

here! with Josh and Sara: Swati Clip 3 (Song is 2 o' clock in the am)

2005 Interview from The Villager:Dark Star: Solo artist Swati changes her trajectory

I first met Swati Sharma at Crash Mansion, five minutes after she played an amazing, soulful show for an overwhelmingly appreciative audience. She seemed utterly depressed. In fact, she could barely muster a greeting as she headed to the bar.


The dark-eyed singer who goes by her first name, which means “name of a star” in Hindu, isn’t shy about her “deep depression problem.” It’s why she performs. “On stage,” she says, “it’s the optimum place I can be in my head. When I see a stranger who feels what I feel, the emptiness and loneliness are completely gone…I’m completely content.”


Her music, which Swati describes as “folky, edgy, acoustic…paradoxical,” is haunting. Over the next few weeks, I still heard her beautiful songs in my head, and their intelligent, desperate lyrics, like: “I’d smoke crack for you/I would eat dogs for you/I would steal a dress for you/Shave your legs for you/I would cut myself for you/To paint your lips for you/Anything to make you think I was cool.”


So when our mutual friend invited me to her birthday party, I agreed to drop by. MORE

NY Swati Sharma - NEKMF VT