Review Mei Lei Swan - Calling the Sky

‘Cello playing songstress’ Mei Lei Swan moved from Melbourne to Alice Springs two years ago and you can certainly hear the influence of the desert in her new single.

The sparse sound on Calling the Sky is evident right from the beginning of the song with a sample of the wind (perhaps recorded somewhere in the Central Australian Desert). This flows into a minimalistic piano arrangement and Swan’s folky, distinctly aussie vocals. The song builds with stripped back cello, violin and percussion while keeping its simplistic intensity.

There is a fun quality to the song as well. The lyrics are catchy “I’m calling the sky… stars come tumbling… my belly is rumbling” and bouncy piano parts break up the verses.

“For me it's a simple tune with a few twists and quirks that celebrates the expansiveness of finding one's little heart of joy and setting it free... doing whatever it is you do to let go of all the trappings and pressures of the external world,” Swan says.

Swan wrote the song while working in very challenging conditions as a community development worker. “In some ways writing this song was a way for me to escape it and remember what was important to me. A friend said to me once it's like the feeling you get when you roll out your swag in a creek bed somewhere (the desert, where there's no water!), happily alone, and finally look up at the stars.

Mei Lei Swan is just setting out on her song writing journey. Just like the trip from Melbourne to Alice, there are a lot of hard miles ahead. But judging from Calling the Sky, the road looks full of promise and it will be fascinating to see which desert tracks she takes on the way.

http://www.myspace.com/meilaiswan