Andy Swan

***On a baker's dozen of cosmic country tunes, Andy Swan does no wrong. You'll laugh (at the Monkees-catchy romp of Can I Pay You With Sunshine?), you'll cry (with the longing fella on the sparse Belt Buckle), and you'll come to understand (that in a No Shirt, No Shoes, No Service-world, no one is truly free). Swan, also the leader of Toronto popsters the Michael Parks, is a gifted songwriter. Every song has its own niche and charm. Just as a ditty-homage to a Rolling Stone has Brian Jones smiling somewhere, you'll be pleased too - 13 times.
- Brad Wheeler - Globe and Mail

If the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the name of our nation’s capital is traditional country twang, then you will not be surprised at the contents of this disc, on which the titular Mr. Swan lays to tape some heartfelt and hurtin’ songs about breakups, snowflakes and, um, Brian Jones. Sadly, there are no sordid, honky-tonk tales of revelry on the Rideau Canal or last call at the Dominion Tavern to help put Ottawa on the map of romantic musical destinations (the man is a singer, not a magician), but there’s lots of beautiful and wistful country pop, which sounds as if it was piped in from years ago by a collection of heartbroken Nashville session players, lost in the ByWard Market on a snowy night.
Michael Lawson, National Post - National Post

Excellent time of year for Kelp to unleash this highly anticipated release. Backed by some of the capital's most notorious and musically promiscuous faces, including guest appearances from Jim Bryson, Andrew Vincent, Rolf Klausener and Jon Bartlett, Ottawa is sure to win over fans of the like. The warm analog production courtesy of Dave Draves is a trademark sound that has put Little Bullhorn Productions on the map in recent years. Lyrically, Ottawa ranges from simple and effective melodies on tracks like Brian Jones to the poetic brilliance and highlight of the album, The Truth About Thieves. While Andy Swan's focal point is mainly grassroots country, the songwriting is varied without being inconsistent - from traditional upbeat anthems such as Can I Pay for You With Sunshine to infectious singer/songwriter gems reminiscent of later Paul Westerberg or Jeff Tweedy. Ottawa does a good job of maintaining the standard already set by his labelmates.

- Ottawa Xpress- review

****
Andy Swan is a man of many names — Detective Kalita, The Michael Parks and, uh, Andy Swan — but he’s always done one thing very well: toe the lines between tender-hearted vulnerability, self-deprecating wit and barely concealed contempt, kind of like Will Oldham stripped of the inscrutability (and the scary beard). Though he calls Toronto home, with Ottawa, Swan pays tribute to the city that houses his label and many of his best friends — including Jim Bryson, Andrew Vincent, The Acorn’s Rolf Klausener and Kelp Records head Jon Barlett — all of whom join in to transform Swan’s solitary serenades into spirited group hoedowns. As such, the torn ’n’ frayed indie-rock that defined Swan’s past work has been displaced by a more rustic presentation that provides suitably stark settings for his stories of dead Rolling Stones, starfuckers and the loneliness of living in the city: “you and your lawyers in your penthouse apartments / and me in my one-room shack,” he sings to an ex who’s since traded up, “it’s a matter of fact how you got the diamonds / and I got the shaft.” But Ottawa is ultimately a testament to making the most of your limited means: when Swan asks “Can I Pay You in Sunshine?” — a finger-pickin’ charmer that sounds like it was lassoed in from The Byrds’ Sweetheart of the Rodeo — you know that the man is good for it.
- Stuart Berman - Eye Weekly