Leaving It All Behind: Sleeping With Sirens In Concert
January 28, 2020. In the haze — and sweat — saturated space of Philadelphia’s Union Transfer, the crowd has already been on their feet for over two hours. They have survived the opening bands, who...
View ArticleThe New Taylor Comes to the Phone in “Miss Americana”
Content warning: eating disorders, sexual assault In “Miss Americana,” Taylor Swift explains why she declared the Old Taylor dead in her 2017 comeback anthem, “Look What You Made Me Do.” The...
View ArticleSpencer Tate ’22 on Making Music during a Global Pandemic
Spencer Tate ’22 lives at a plastic desk in his living room, and as we talked over Zoom, I could see one of his three sisters in the background. He laughed and told me that’s the sister now staying in...
View ArticleFinding Purpose while Stuck in Quarantine
Stuck in the same small bedroom, the same bleak corridors, and the same shared spaces, it’s safe to say that a lot of us are unhappy and anxious in quarantine. When we left for spring break most of us...
View ArticleAn Unnecessarily Incomplete Canon: A Critique of Rolling Stone’s Latest 500...
Rolling Stone could learn from the adage that a rolling stone gathers no moss — and roll on by ditching the “500 Greatest Albums of All Time” feature. On September 22, 2020, Rolling Stone re-released...
View ArticleSpeechless Storytelling to the Ear: The Jasper String Quartet
Warm sun fills my blood with a sense of calm, as the balance of chirps in the air and water flowing keeps my senses charged with anticipation. The morning rays promise heaven ahead, so why is the...
View ArticleAuthors in Conversation: Hannah and Bethany on Lil Nas X’s Debut, “MONTERO”
Last week, Hannah and Bethany sat in the IC Courtyard to listen to Lil Nas X’s first album, MONTERO. This was Bethany’s first full listen but Hannah’s fifth. Hannah is a huge Lil Nas X fan and saw him...
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Artist of the Week: Veronica Yabloko on Duality and Womanhood
“I had a mock trial tournament this weekend. I wrote a song on the flight there and a song on the flight back.” In this manner, completely humble and matter-of-fact, Veronica Yabloko ’22 described the...
View Article“The Kai’s the Limit”: a Q&A with Creators Marie Inniss ’23 and Hannah Sobel ’22
Responses have been edited for length and clarity. Anatole Shukla: How did you decide to team up on writing? Marie Inniss: I was gonna write everything and then I found out I can’t write music. And I...
View Article“I Want You Back:” A Capella Returns to Swarthmore
On Friday, Nov. 5, a cappella returned to Swarthmore’s campus after a nearly two-year absence. Each of Swarthmore’s four a cappella groups — OffBeat, Grapevine, Mixed Company, and Sixteen Feet —...
View ArticleAri Liloia’s “ghost town,” A Brief Review
Almost exactly one year ago, Ari Liloia ’21 released his first album, a tight twenty-five minute ASMR-ambient masterpiece entitled “ghost town,” which can be listened to on Spotify, bandcamp, and...
View Article“Form Equals Content”: A Guide to Living Authentically Through Dua Lipa’s Music
“Form equals content.” You’ve probably heard the phrase. In any high school or collegiate English class, your instructor has probably uttered these words in reference to a poem or some other literary...
View ArticleWorthstock 2022 Begins Planning Phase
It’s official: Worthstock is back. Worthstock, a beloved Swarthmore tradition, happens during the last Sunday before the finals of the spring semester in which the College hosts a band or artist that...
View ArticleArtist of the Week Greg Boatman ’23 on Composition and Improvisation
“I was in the woods, just kind of walking, when I stopped for a moment and listened to everything around me,” recalled Greg Boatman ’23. “There were all these layers of sound stacked on top of each...
View ArticleAfter Fall Cancelation, Swat Formal Returns
Swarthmore students will be returning to the dance floor for the SGO Spring Formal, otherwise called Swat Prom, on Saturday, March 26, at 10 p.m. The decision to bring back the formal comes amid a...
View ArticleDrunk Drivers? Killer Whales? Car Seat Headrest at Franklin Music Hall
Some February day in 2016, my sophomore year of high school, I sat in an empty room waiting for class to start. I don’t remember what I was feeling as I watched my teacher shuffle in to set up the...
View Article“My Empire of Dirt”: Tracking the Evolution of “Hurt” from Nine Inch Nails to...
cw: themes of self-harm are explored in the song described in this article What song makes you cry? Like, tears streaming, bawling on the floor kind of cry. For me, it’s Johnny Cash’s melancholic...
View ArticleArtist of the Week: Emma Novak
When I met singer Emma Novak ’22 for our interview, she exuded friendliness. As she described her recent senior voice recital, her devotion to the process and act of performing shined through. As a...
View ArticleStudent Artists Perform at War3House 3
Student artists gathered last Saturday, April 30, in the “War3House 3,” a music venue located in the Ville, to perform for the Swarthmore community. Although not sponsored by the college, the concert...
View ArticleBryn Mawr’s Algorithmic Theater Blends Performance and Tech
I attended the last scheduled performance of Bryn Mawr’s Performing Arts Series “Yesterday Tomorrow,” an hour-long show that was part of their “Algorithmic Theater,” in which algorithms produce a...
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