The Sway Machinery

Although the frontman of Sway Machinery, Jeremiah Lockwood, absorbed both the celebrated cantorial recordings that filled his grandparents’ Queens apartment and the blues guitar techniques he developed as a teenager by studying and performing in the New York subways alongside Piedmont blues guitarist Carolina Slim, only later in adulthood did he fuse the two traditions into a unified whole. In 2006 he joined forces with Israeli percussionist and Balkan Beat Box MC Tomer Tzur, tenor saxophonist Stuart Bogie, trumpeter Jordan McLean of Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra, and Arcade Fire touring member Colin Stetson. Lockwood drew his lyrics and melodies from Jewish High Holidays prayers and 20th century Cantorial music, while the instrumental textures reflected each participant’s individual background and approach. After signing with JDub Records, the group first appeared in a multimedia presentation titled Hidden Melodies Revealed that took place on Rosh Hashanah in 2007 inside a storied New York temple. Later that year Tzur returned to Israel, and Yeah Yeah Yeahs drummer Brian Chase assumed the drum chair. The resulting quartet issued its debut self-titled EP in 2008 and the full-length Hidden Melodies Revealed the following year. Drummer John Bollinger joined the lineup ahead of the 2011 release The House of Friendly Ghosts, Vol.1, a collaboration with Malian vocalist Khaira Arby.