Duck and Swallow

Duck and Swallow is the new solo project of Lillie Jayne, a Brooklyn performer and composer. Stripping away the density and metal noise of her previous band, Drayton Sawyer Gang, Lillie Jayne phoenixes her way to a point of clean light with Duck and Swallow in an expression of simple honesty in melody. Her lyrics, a mix of raw truth and personal plaintiveness, are interwoven with commentary on the vastness and absurdity of the universe; these thoughts are expressed through tangled poetry and brightly haunting melodies that are simultaneously simple and complex. Drawing on her experiences and influences in theater, early punk, jazz, cabaret, and pop, she seemingly tosses chunks of these aside, keeping only delicate scraps which she quilts together into a tapestry of personal love letters and anecdotes of intro- and outro-spective poetry. Having performed in a diverse range of disciplines since her childhood, she engages the audience comfortably and openly, as if each performance is a rendesvous in the back of a bar with an old flame. Drink to drink, confessions are laid bare and laughs are had: some surreal, some thrilling, but all wrapped in the warm lining of melancholy longing for something thay may never have even existed.

Although merely in its infant stages, Duck and Swallow has already found fans, admirers, and a warm buzz in the northeast and on the internet. Duck and Swallow has played throughout the northeast US and plays often at home in NYC. Look for upcoming shows in Montreal, Burlington, Boston, Philadelphia, and a UK tour in the spring.