LISA SWERDLOW, Dancing Between Worlds

The last time I had the privilege of immersing into Lisa Swerdlow’s thoughtfully soulful, highly imaginative musical world for a review several albums ago, the renowned new age pianist/composer was regaling my senses with Voyager – her stellar full length solo piano collection whose pieces took us quite literally on a journey through space.

The project was sparked by a story she heard about NASA’s twin Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft. The probes were launched in 1977 to take advantage of a favorable alignment of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Although their original mission was to study only the planetary systems of Jupiter and Saturn, Voyager 2 continued on to the other planets. Surpassing their projected 15 years of usefulness, the Voyagers are still sending us images from space over 40 years later. They now explore the outer boundary of the heliosphere in interstellar space.

Lisa’s latest project, the beautiful and uniquely titled six track EP Dancing Between Worlds, comes from a very different place in her heart, grounded not only on earth but in one of life’s most cherished gifts, the sacred bonds of love between two people in the wake of one’s passing. Through her sparkling melodies, mournful meditations and ultimately hopeful and joyful spirit – enhanced beautifully on three songs by the extra emotional heft of Doug Hammer’s lush orchestration – the collection inspires and encourages us in a very different, more personal and intimate way.

Using her ample gifts to take us through the different stages of grief upon the loss of her beloved wife Lucie, she allows us not only to experience her inner experiences of darkness and light on the slow, jagged road to healing – but to tap into our own memories of love and loss so that we may join her on that path. This is the great gift composers and musicians like Lisa have. They can use their divinely given talents as therapeutic tools first for themselves – and then, by extension, as soothing instruments of hope for their devoted listeners. On Dancing Between Worlds, astonishingly, she accomplishes all this in only 22 minutes!

Though interestingly it’s placed third in the tracking, the lyrical, gracefully hypnotic and majestically soaring title track is the heartfelt centerpiece and most revealing starting point for understanding Lisa’s powerful story. It was inspired by a lucid dream where Lisa saw Lucie and felt a burst of joy in the moment of spiritual reunion. “In the dream, we were at a resort on the 10th floor,” the pianist says. “I was so happy to see her! I told her I wanted to introduce her to some people I had met, but she said, ‘Oh honey! You know I’m dead. You’re the only one who could see me!’ I acknowledge that I knew that to be true and I was just as happy to have her all to myself.

“When I woke up,” she continues, “I felt like I had to travel to the ‘10th floor,’ or higher plane of consciousness to see Lucie. I felt delighted at having seen her and that I will always be reaching out to her in hopes that we ‘dance together’ again.”

It made perfect sense for Lisa to title the project after this dream-inspired composition. For her, riffing off the imagery of the dream itself, Dancing Between Worlds reflects the feeling she has of meeting Lucie somewhere between where she dwells now and where Lisa is currently, stuck (as she puts it) in this incarnation. The album rolls like a sweetly rendered soul dance, which allows her to feel as if her spirit still joins with that of her beloved.  

The three other newly composed pieces on the album, starting with “Beneath the Harvest Moon,” reflect the mission of all of Lisa’s music – to keep her on her path and bring joy to her spirit – and also, of course, ours. It’s a dimly lit yet breathtaking place of reflection where initial despair forces our souls to realize the fragility and impermanence of life. Hammer’s sampled cello adds extra weight to the moment.

Offering the kind of wisdom that only comes from living through and rising from the depths of profound loss, she says, “Grief comes in layers,” she says. “It’s constant in the beginning, but then one starts to reshape one’s life as a solo person again.” Lisa artfully reflects the beginning of that reshaping with the eloquent, classical flavored solo piano masterpiece “Remembering You” and the tender, introspective “La femme Sur Mer,” which taps gingerly into the darkness to light motif matching heavier, lower register chord with thoughtful yet slightly whimsical upper register melodic expressions.

Lisa could have released these four songs as the EP, yet felt that two singles she released in prior years belonged sonically and thematically with the new works to create a complete picture of the special dance between worlds. She bookends the four originals with “All Is Not Lost,” originally released in 2021, and “Carousel of Life” from 2020. The opening track begins as a gentle, stark and haunting reflection before evolving to show more strength of purpose, resilience and empowerment.

Wrapping the collection with the sweeping, charming and life affirming “Carousel of Life” – recorded during the pandemic era - was her way of finishing on a high note, opening to joy again and full of energy to courageously embrace a new day. Lisa created its exciting orchestration with samples from Para-Sight Studio in Grass Valley, CA.