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[verb]swish, the ‘rhythmic wordsmith’, a lyricist with ideas flowing from the head, to the heart, to the pen. His sound, best described as spoken soul and neo-poetry™ for music lovers, transports listeners to the source of his reflective love of logic, intrinsic hip-hop energy and zeal for life & beauty. To come along for the ride, sign up to the monthly newsletter, Well I’ll Be at verbswish.com for the latest on all the verbs that flow out of his being: verbswish.com

His recent book launch took the form of an evening entitled ‘Penultimate’ at the legendary Roundhouse, London.  [verb]swish performed material from the book, ‘Selected Swishes’ in his signature style of spoken soul and neo-poetry™ with full band and UK support from a clutch of he country’s best up-and-coming songwriters and poets. Having quickly sold out of the 2006 EP, Scored Words In Spoken Harmony, copies of the book have also been snapped up in like fashion, now due for its 2nd edition printing in February 2008.

In anticipation of the Arts Council supported debut LP, publishers TRANSTATIC also release a DVD of his Roundhouse book launch entitled, Penultimate in the run up to his album’s 2008 release. Steeped in a similar alternative hip-hop sensibility that saw influences such as Mos Def, Common, Saul Williams and Lauryn Hill rise to prominence in the late nineties, the neo-poetry™ of [verb]swish has begun to resonate wherever there are lyric appreciators to be found: from the festival-theatre circuit to hip-hop ciphers to hallowed halls of churches and universities. The latter received a taste of the [verb]swish experience at 2007 university Pause Tour (touring nationally in 208). The tour is now booking nationally for 2008 at myspace.com/pausetour. The debut album produced by musical heavyweight, Gavin Holligan (Brits School), is set to tour in 2009.

In an age where spoken word still wrestles with perceptions of being niche, [verb]swish is distinct as an auteur of neo-poetry: compelling in his accessibility and inherent musicality, [verb]swish is the draught breezing beneath doors that have historically shut firmly in the face of traditional spoken word. “The job of a poet, is not so much to break any [old] mould but to demonstrate how a ‘new’ one is cast “, this from the 25 year old troubadour who has used hip-hop, gospel and soul as his plaster and spent years allowing the craft to get more dry in it’s rumour, raw in it’s unvarnished honesty and enduring in the promise that it shows.

The influence of [verb]swish is felt beyond the direct aritist-audience relationship with teaching appointments at such institutions as the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award and the world renowned National Youth Theatre (NYT), at the latter his written work has been used as source material for creative writing workshops since 2005.

© TRANSTATIC 2008

 Contact/Bookings:

Mike Smartt, TRANSTATIC,
e: info at verbswish dot com

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