Swami John Reis & Co. - Don't Believe In Yourself 7" (/500)

 

Swami (2026)

This latest Swami John Reis 7" is something of a precursor to the next Swami John Reis LP, Navajo White, that is due out in August.  I say 'something of' as neither of the songs on this 7" are destined to be part of that record, they're exclusive to this 7" that was only available from the Swami web store.  It was limited to 500 copies and sold out alarmingly fast when it was put on sale a couple of weeks ago.  I'm just relieved that I was able to secure one.

Keen-eyed readers will note the "& Co." suffix after Swami John Reis this time out.  In this case the Co. is Gar Wood, Ben Moore,  Glen Galloway, J Sinclair K and Rick Froberg on the A side with Ben and J also appearing on the B side.  The A side is "Even the Lobsters Can Sing and with the Hot Snakes lineup +2, musically this feels like Automatic Midnight era Snakes with it's repetitive, yet melodic, rolling bass, coupled with a big guitar crunch what veers off into unique chord progressions.  Rick is on guitar only on this track with Swami John handling the vocals.  It's a truly incredible song and the highlight of the 7" for me.

Not that "Bad Lightning" over on the B side is any slouch, but it is different.  This one has a thunderous, galloping drum beat with a clangy, somewhat unusual guitar riff.  It's really wild sounding and while I wouldn't go so far as to say it's metal sounding (because it isn't), it has a higher pitched, piercing tone than stands out as unique in the Swami canon.  It results in two songs that are not similar, but work together by the sheer will of the Swami and his ability to put a signature stamp on anything he creates, no matter where he takes the song to.

You'd be hard pressed to find a bigger fan of John Reis' work than me, I am absolutely predisposed to like it and carry around that bias with me.  But, these are two incredible songs.  John is not rehashing the same Swami John Reis album over and over.  Each time out he brings something new to the party while still always sounding like him,  I cannot wait to hear what he has in store for the LP next month.