Swallows

The title for Swallows is taken from the second track, Would that it were, which is about a person who’s feeling more than a little cynical after a break-up, but who decides to work their way out of it. Generally, the songs on Swallows are about the ends of relationships, or the moments right before and after. There is The hotel runs itself, Laughter, crying and snow and Needles which all tell a story about a relationship that’s gone on longer than it should. In the case of the latter, it’s because you keep hanging on to the small mercies, and in Hotel it’s because it’s just become a habit. In Laughter there’s no real explanation; just a unbearable status quo of equal parts good and bad. Dog rose is about the “please let’s try again” conversation, and The ground rules is about a naïve couple that turns emergency repairs to the relationship into everyday life. Then there’s Glue, which is about not wanting to try again, because what’s the point? And, just so everything isn’t misery and tears, there’s You are, which is a more or less happy song about women, and about learning something from being with them.