Swallow Key

Swallow Key sounds like a chant for the universe at large. The lyrics are cryptic and layered with tribal beats creating mystery and abstraction. At times Swallow Key sounds supernatural and at times earthy and organic.

Robert Eujene Ogden writes, performs, records, and mixes all of Swallow Key’s instrumentation and vocals. It’s his own personal project and exploration.

While heavily electronic, Eujene’s music has a massive live element and textural freshness resembling two opposing forces, like life and death. There’ s a great deal of darkness in Swallow Key’s music but also immense rays of light.
Eujene does an excellent job arranging beats and vocals into complex, often beautiful tracks creating his own little universe. You are invited to his universe, go ahead…take a peek. - I AM NOT A MUSICIAN

Swallow Key sounds like a chant for the universe at large. The lyrics are cryptic and layered with tribal beats creating mystery and abstraction. At times Swallow Key sounds supernatural and at times earthy and organic.

Robert Eujene Ogden writes, performs, records, and mixes all of Swallow Key’s instrumentation and vocals. It’s his own personal project and exploration.

While heavily electronic, Eujene’s music has a massive live element and textural freshness resembling two opposing forces, like life and death. There’ s a great deal of darkness in Swallow Key’s music but also immense rays of light.
Eujene does an excellent job arranging beats and vocals into complex, often beautiful tracks creating his own little universe. You are invited to his universe, go ahead…take a peek. - I AM NOT A MUSICIAN

A good cover song should take the original and alter it without making it unrecognizable. Adding layers of modern technology upon the skeletal structures of some of the past’s great tunes is a tricky proposition—a balancing act that is rarely accomplished successfully. San Francisco’s Swallow Key have taken The Doors’ morose classic, The End, and have turned it into a gothic electronic séance and the results are nothing short of stunning. The work of San Francisco’s Euiene Oakden, Swallow Key’s rendition is an icily detached reading of the classic rock kings' epic complete with airy, ominous keyboards and electronics shot through with danceable beats. Check it out below and keep tabs on Shallow Key via Facebook, Twitter, and Bandcamp. - East Village Radio - NYC

A good cover song should take the original and alter it without making it unrecognizable. Adding layers of modern technology upon the skeletal structures of some of the past’s great tunes is a tricky proposition—a balancing act that is rarely accomplished successfully. San Francisco’s Swallow Key have taken The Doors’ morose classic, The End, and have turned it into a gothic electronic séance and the results are nothing short of stunning. The work of San Francisco’s Euiene Oakden, Swallow Key’s rendition is an icily detached reading of the classic rock kings' epic complete with airy, ominous keyboards and electronics shot through with danceable beats. Check it out below and keep tabs on Shallow Key via Facebook, Twitter, and Bandcamp. - East Village Radio - NYC

Kachinas are ancestral spirits. They’re messengers and elements, souls and animals and family. Pueblo cosmology accords them incredible importance to both the spiritual and natural worlds — and that’s the space, that little slice of cosmic purgatory, where San Francisco’s Swallow Key operates.

Released on the ever-mystical 11.11.11, debut album Kachina is a firelit, tribal-infused tangle of electronic jams. Think Bear in Heaven meets a minimal-techno Fever Ray; Swallow Key’s Eujene Oakden is never outright sinister, but he conjures the gauzy atmosphere of mythology and folklore enough to feel ancient blood coursing through every beat. Vocal-centric tracks like “We Got The Honey” and “Dark Lit Paradise” pulse with air and fire and earth, while chilled instrumentals “Give Her Tattoos With Octopus Ink” and “Capsules” shoot somewhere into the heavens, well beyond consciousness, to soar with souls, spirits and stars. Swallow Key has an awkwardness to it, this organic and sometimes childlike sense of movement, but Oakden always circles back to the project’s roots: The sacred and elemental dance of the spirits. - Mishka NYC

Kachinas are ancestral spirits. They’re messengers and elements, souls and animals and family. Pueblo cosmology accords them incredible importance to both the spiritual and natural worlds — and that’s the space, that little slice of cosmic purgatory, where San Francisco’s Swallow Key operates.

Released on the ever-mystical 11.11.11, debut album Kachina is a firelit, tribal-infused tangle of electronic jams. Think Bear in Heaven meets a minimal-techno Fever Ray; Swallow Key’s Eujene Oakden is never outright sinister, but he conjures the gauzy atmosphere of mythology and folklore enough to feel ancient blood coursing through every beat. Vocal-centric tracks like “We Got The Honey” and “Dark Lit Paradise” pulse with air and fire and earth, while chilled instrumentals “Give Her Tattoos With Octopus Ink” and “Capsules” shoot somewhere into the heavens, well beyond consciousness, to soar with souls, spirits and stars. Swallow Key has an awkwardness to it, this organic and sometimes childlike sense of movement, but Oakden always circles back to the project’s roots: The sacred and elemental dance of the spirits. - Mishka NYC

Kachinas are ancestral spirits. They’re messengers and elements, souls and animals and family. Pueblo cosmology accords them incredible importance to both the spiritual and natural worlds — and that’s the space, that little slice of cosmic purgatory, where San Francisco’s Swallow Key operates.

Released on the ever-mystical 11.11.11, debut album Kachina is a firelit, tribal-infused tangle of electronic jams. Think Bear in Heaven meets a minimal-techno Fever Ray; Swallow Key’s Eujene Oakden is never outright sinister, but he conjures the gauzy atmosphere of mythology and folklore enough to feel ancient blood coursing through every beat. Vocal-centric tracks like “We Got The Honey” and “Dark Lit Paradise” pulse with air and fire and earth, while chilled instrumentals “Give Her Tattoos With Octopus Ink” and “Capsules” shoot somewhere into the heavens, well beyond consciousness, to soar with souls, spirits and stars. Swallow Key has an awkwardness to it, this organic and sometimes childlike sense of movement, but Oakden always circles back to the project’s roots: The sacred and elemental dance of the spirits. - Mishka NYC

Swallow Key is our new challenge. Probably his name does not tell you anything as he’s practically unknown to the great public. Fortunately, our God Soundcloud.com has revealed some gems to us, like the remix of The Knife/Fever Ray song Silent Shout/If I Had An Heart. We contacted him and between psychedelic Dj sets and tribal echoes celebrating the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, as heard in its debut album Kachina, we have been captivated by the charm of his words.

So Eujene, I can call you Eujene, right?

Yes, I’m going by Eujene while I’m visiting this planet. My full name is Robert Eujene Oakden.

I have been looking everywhere to get info about you, but I only found few necessary ones about.. your music! I would like to know more about you. How and from where your creativity was born?

I hide a lot. It’s a method of covering my tracks in the snow from project to project. But Swallow Key is here until the stars fade out. I’m also filmmaker and an artist. Last year, I was working for DreamWorks Animation on the feature film, Megamind. I quit DreamWorks to pursue my own path as a musician and film director. I changed the spelling of my last name from Ogden to Oakden to give birth to a new being. I thought of changing it to, “Butterfly Rider” or “Catipillar Killer”, but that was too obvious. Even my Facebook is a bit difficult to search for because I use false punctuation to spell it, ÊüJëñë ÕåKdëñ. As a visual artist, I have a few art exhibitions each year here in SF. But music is my saving grace, the girl who loves me for who I really am. The source of my creativity a loaded question. Because this is a sacred subject, I have to be forthcoming, at the risk of providing ‘too much information’ or TMI as we say in America. I have to say the artist was born at the death of my sister. She was murdered on my 11th birthday. I’ve been creating light from the darkness since then. My first writing is still etched on to her gravestone. Later, my bereaved mother would commit suicide as a result. Sorry to dump that on you. Haha! I know that’s not very lighthearted material, but somehow I survived this and more, by swan diving into the arts deep into alternate universes where I can still communicate with those who have left this plain of existence.

If I have to define your sounds in three words, I would say engaging, contaminated and mystic. What do you think about this summary? If I ask you to describe your music with three adjectives what would you reply?

I like your selections. I might choose; Bizarre, Raw, and (agreeably) Mystic. Mysticism makes my heart race. It’s the source of my aura. I long to chase mysteries and to seek magic in the universe that can’t be seen from beneath the fog of our human suits. With Swallow Key, I’ve made a sacred vow to my spirit and the vision of human advancement. For my debut album, Kachina, I’ve gathered inspiration from the ethereal shaman of the Native American Hopi tribe and likewise things of magic and unicorns and aliens and chocolate.

Is there someone, I mean famous acts, that inspired your talent?

My taste in music goes as far back as time itself. I listen to all kinds of music and I love almost all of it. So I could name many famous musicians. But for this album I’d rather call attention to a lesser known musician named, Carlos Nakai. Carlos is of the Navajo-Ute tribe and his technique of the flute is out of this world. He creates stargates to other dimensions when he breathes. Undoubtedly one of my favorite musicians. The Native American tribes are still enduring the trespasses of the colonization of North America. So with, Kachina, I’m hoping to bring their ancient spiritual ways of life to a jaded, dirty-dollar-chasing audience.

If tomorrow you would be given a chance to be whoever you wanted to be, who would you pick?

If I was forced into someone else’s body tomorrow, I think I would still miss my dreams unfollowed. But if Eujene was having a bad day, I would have to say, Arthur Dent from Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy.

Nowadays, as we say in Italy, there’s “a lot of stuff” in the music industry! It is an ongoing research of synthetic and aimed definitions. Aside “electronic music” how would you collocate yourself?

That’s very difficult for me. My secret mission has been to stay away from classification. I think this is the cliché thing that most musicians say. But seriously, I’m really bad at defining music genre’s. I’ll leave that up to the rocket scientists. I think my attempted description of Swallow Key might be Alternative Religious Music. And music is my religion.

The discography is not longer for few exclusive labels. On the contrary, it’s available for a wider range and creating music has become simpler with the support of digital technologies. What do you think about your musical future?

I thank the stars for outlets like Soundcloud. It’s a great way to reach an audience. I’ve gotten to this humble level of musici - Enquire Art Magazine - Italy

Swallow Key is our new challenge. Probably his name does not tell you anything as he’s practically unknown to the great public. Fortunately, our God Soundcloud.com has revealed some gems to us, like the remix of The Knife/Fever Ray song Silent Shout/If I Had An Heart. We contacted him and between psychedelic Dj sets and tribal echoes celebrating the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, as heard in its debut album Kachina, we have been captivated by the charm of his words.

So Eujene, I can call you Eujene, right?

Yes, I’m going by Eujene while I’m visiting this planet. My full name is Robert Eujene Oakden.

I have been looking everywhere to get info about you, but I only found few necessary ones about.. your music! I would like to know more about you. How and from where your creativity was born?

I hide a lot. It’s a method of covering my tracks in the snow from project to project. But Swallow Key is here until the stars fade out. I’m also filmmaker and an artist. Last year, I was working for DreamWorks Animation on the feature film, Megamind. I quit DreamWorks to pursue my own path as a musician and film director. I changed the spelling of my last name from Ogden to Oakden to give birth to a new being. I thought of changing it to, “Butterfly Rider” or “Catipillar Killer”, but that was too obvious. Even my Facebook is a bit difficult to search for because I use false punctuation to spell it, ÊüJëñë ÕåKdëñ. As a visual artist, I have a few art exhibitions each year here in SF. But music is my saving grace, the girl who loves me for who I really am. The source of my creativity a loaded question. Because this is a sacred subject, I have to be forthcoming, at the risk of providing ‘too much information’ or TMI as we say in America. I have to say the artist was born at the death of my sister. She was murdered on my 11th birthday. I’ve been creating light from the darkness since then. My first writing is still etched on to her gravestone. Later, my bereaved mother would commit suicide as a result. Sorry to dump that on you. Haha! I know that’s not very lighthearted material, but somehow I survived this and more, by swan diving into the arts deep into alternate universes where I can still communicate with those who have left this plain of existence.

If I have to define your sounds in three words, I would say engaging, contaminated and mystic. What do you think about this summary? If I ask you to describe your music with three adjectives what would you reply?

I like your selections. I might choose; Bizarre, Raw, and (agreeably) Mystic. Mysticism makes my heart race. It’s the source of my aura. I long to chase mysteries and to seek magic in the universe that can’t be seen from beneath the fog of our human suits. With Swallow Key, I’ve made a sacred vow to my spirit and the vision of human advancement. For my debut album, Kachina, I’ve gathered inspiration from the ethereal shaman of the Native American Hopi tribe and likewise things of magic and unicorns and aliens and chocolate.

Is there someone, I mean famous acts, that inspired your talent?

My taste in music goes as far back as time itself. I listen to all kinds of music and I love almost all of it. So I could name many famous musicians. But for this album I’d rather call attention to a lesser known musician named, Carlos Nakai. Carlos is of the Navajo-Ute tribe and his technique of the flute is out of this world. He creates stargates to other dimensions when he breathes. Undoubtedly one of my favorite musicians. The Native American tribes are still enduring the trespasses of the colonization of North America. So with, Kachina, I’m hoping to bring their ancient spiritual ways of life to a jaded, dirty-dollar-chasing audience.

If tomorrow you would be given a chance to be whoever you wanted to be, who would you pick?

If I was forced into someone else’s body tomorrow, I think I would still miss my dreams unfollowed. But if Eujene was having a bad day, I would have to say, Arthur Dent from Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy.

Nowadays, as we say in Italy, there’s “a lot of stuff” in the music industry! It is an ongoing research of synthetic and aimed definitions. Aside “electronic music” how would you collocate yourself?

That’s very difficult for me. My secret mission has been to stay away from classification. I think this is the cliché thing that most musicians say. But seriously, I’m really bad at defining music genre’s. I’ll leave that up to the rocket scientists. I think my attempted description of Swallow Key might be Alternative Religious Music. And music is my religion.

The discography is not longer for few exclusive labels. On the contrary, it’s available for a wider range and creating music has become simpler with the support of digital technologies. What do you think about your musical future?

I thank the stars for outlets like Soundcloud. It’s a great way to reach an audience. I’ve gotten to this humble level of musici - Enquire Art Magazine - Italy