The Swan Chorus remain an enigma in the current music machine in my opinion and one of those bands that defy category. 2025 saw their You’re Despicable album sitting comfortably in my favourite 25 albums of the year. The bands fourth album Blood And Tennis Rackets was released on January 26th 2026 and maintains the shape shifting image of their musical direction. The Swan Chorus since their inception have been a changing flux of musicians and styles. The enjoyable part of any new release from this band is like buying a scratch card, you never know what you are getting until you scratch away the surface layer to reveal what is beneath. Despite the full on complexity and at some point smile inducing pieces throughout the nineteen tracks included here, (yes, nineteen) The Swan Chorus have released their most adventurous and stripped back album to date. At the time of this review Messrs David Knowles and Colin Mckay were already engaged with the writing of album number five (watch this space). My description of the album as being “stripped back” I merely refer to the fact that most of the compositions are short form without any songs included at any point. In addition, I find some of the track titles intriguing, though, they seem somehow appropriate. Further investigation is needed and I feel an interview coming on. Once again, at the time of writing this review the album is only available as a download from Bandcamp.A shame really for completists like myself as the art work is very much in keeping with two of the bands previous albums and become synonymous with their brand.
One thing that all of the albums have in common is their production quality courtesy of Colin McKay who also shares the rest of the instrumental credits with David Knowles as well as the programming etc. What you get with Blood And Tennis Rackets as well as a departure from the song based fare is an all out assault on the senses. There are no laid back bluesy numbers here and no complicated lyrics to ponder. From the outset to the very last notes being played I would describe this as a sonic adventure albeit quirky and without constraint. The diversity of the pieces throughout the album is fascinating and I frequently found myself cranking up the volume enjoy some of the all to short pieces. The orchestration used throughout some of the highlights of Blood And Tennis Rackets is nothing short of breathtaking which made me give up trying to define sampled instruments and real ones. I resigned myself to listen to the album for what it is, a clever and highly musical event and should not be regarded as an interim album whilst the next song based album is being written. It is a statement, a testament if you like to the skills and musical synergy behind this mysterious duo.
So, what of the music itself, well, it really is a Clint Eastwood fan’s dream album. The album title itself as well as the title track/s of course is a quote from the movie The Gauntlet the quote being “if Shockley tries to drive that bus through phoenix there’ll be blood and tennis rackets all over the highway”. The album opens with the rather upbeat Bats And Spiders which has Thomas Dolby’s The Key To Her Ferrari written all over it. There are two takes on the title track, orchestral and non orchestral beginning with the former. Where as this represents the erratic driving of a stolen Greyhound bus, I was reminded more of the opening sequence from Beetlejuice with it’s rousing stomp and lalo Shifrin feel. This is echoed throughout the album too. All of the nineteen pieces possess cinematic qualities and the samples used and playing throughout are exemplary. There’s a nod and a wink to TV too with the all too brief Another Krelbourne incident which viewers of the series Malcolm In The Middle will appreciate. This tune at just over a minute long returns to the orchestral tones of the title track and played with gusto. Sometimes less is more as they say!
Killer In The Rain the title of which is taken from a short story by Raymond Chandler author of the detective Phillip Marlowe books. With it bright, glassy synth pad throughout the piece fits in the bite-size category on the album and despite its low growling bass tones and synth driven opening manages to fit in a dramatic ending befitting and James Bond movie. With hands firmly on the keys of a synthesiser Open Season fits firmly into the Electronica side to the album. Stonking bass synth and jangling guitar and edgy keyboard soloing steers this piece slightly away from the furrow plowed firmly by the other tracks on the album. There is no getting away from the fact that there are a lot of things that both electro and Prog fans are going to love about this piece. Returning to my observation above with regards to Clint Eastwood, it was obvious from the opening few bars of Smith And Wesson that the piece was inspired by Dirty Harry and yet again has the Lalo Shifrin score vibe to it. It also pays homage to another of my heroes at the same time, that being the late Keith Emerson. Opening with a very blatent Emerson Hammond organ motif I found myself immediately transported to 70’s San Francisco and brandishing a 44 Magnum pointed at some escaping bank robber. When music does this kind of thing to a listener then you know it is hitting the intended mark. Staying with the theatrical and cinematic theme is Xenophobia Jones, where Hans Zimmer Meets Steve Hackett in this film score meets Prog epic. By this I mean that such a huge orchestral beginning which could easily be lifted from Pirates Of The Caribbean evolves into something that Steve Hackett happily plays along to. How to top that? Well, how about the concluding piece on the album You Fascinate me ? Covering everything from a spaghetti western to the closing gambit of another American cop show it simply has the wow factor in many respects.
If there was any criticism I could make of this album it would only be two minor points. Some of the pieces are far too brief and deserve to far longer and the other is that as the time of writing as mentioned above, no hard copies of the album are available. Of the nineteen tracks included here my choices highlighted can only be viewed as a synopsis as there are even more bangers elsewhere throughout this adventure. This album really has got 2026 of to a rather wonderful start with its unique, uplifting yet quirky sonic tapestry. The Swan Chorus as a brand seem to be developing ever upwards with each release and this album deserves space in anyone’s collection of highly listenable albums. What will this band come up with next? I don’t know, though I do know that I simply can’t wait to find out.
https://theswanchorus.bandcamp.com/album/blood-and-tennis-rackets
