Swanny Ivy - Endorphin (Album)

After a brief sabbatical that submerged him into the studio to outdo his older self, Swanny Ivy finally awakens from his musical slumber to give us one of his most potent & defying releases to date in his psychosis masterpiece, “Endorphin.” We spoke highly on the fact that we were hype to hear Swanny Ivy’s recent monumental work. The first glimpse of the project came to us a week before his release date with the psychedelic trip “R U Okay,” which sprung a new life out of this release to witness a creation of something new from Swanny. He also shared the production & featured list for the album that had J Allan, GAWF & Tripfourever assisting him in cementing this project to be the start of a chain reaction that the city has more to offer, and it’s coming in tenfold for the future. 

I think Swanny Ivy tripped us up by dropping “R U Okay” as a single before the album’s initial release since it was the only record off the album that sounded like his past sound. Everything else sounds experimental, like they took multiple genres and drowned them in inducing drums & euphoric synth to create this colossal shift to something extraterrestrial. Take the intro “Higher,” for example, I mean, this record is a bop right off the start, and the vibes keep on getting better and better when you connect with the lyrics. Swanny is too fucked up, but he still wants to get higher; he's in the space with the same ol girl trying to be with the same ol dudes, and yet she wants to feel the thrill that your feeling, yet she’s already stuck up at the top, and she doesn’t even know it. It’s a chaotic jam and one that pumps adrenaline in for you when you are deep in a listening coma, but I can tell you that’s not all to experience in this album. “I Tried” with Tripfourever & “Thinkaboutu” are the effects of swimming in a pool of codeine, feeling high but tipping off in an emotional wave. These are pinnacle descriptions of Lil Wayne’s “I Feel Like Dying” rolled up in this musical aftermath like I don’t even know what to label the sound; Swanny is channeling something perplexing in these records.

Like following forward in the project, “Ease” and “Running” have this jollification melody, yet the lyrics are Swanny dealing with the inner voices of him thinking that the whole world is against which is why he fills himself up with vices. It goes back to the tug of war theory, where the more he shows the growth, the more the voice goes deeper; they were once something that plagued his mindset growing up and became a whole new creature. It's like a symbiote who wants to feed off rage where Swanny isn't currently on that anymore, but it’s a drug that comes crawling to him. The running aspect in his record is him trying to escape the pain, yet it isn’t enough. He still has dreams of 8 figures with an affluent lifestyle and wants it by any means. Somehow when drowning himself in sedatives, it keeps him in a balance where both these beings are trying to take over, but they can’t. It’s a barrier that has him in a free space of his own mind and power which is what we’re hearing more of it in this album. His track “16” speaks about the dreams and aspirations he hoped to achieve when he was an adolescent; he doesn’t see that same person no more. He’s gone through a series of trials and tribulations, and while some decisions left others hurt and no longer accompanied his time, he feels it was the best for him. He takes that same sentiment feeding into “Trouble” when venting about the experience of losing out of touch. Because he made this persona of him being the trouble behind everything, he Iives it and wears it in this single. It’s another sensational joint made gracefully by the production, and we got to thank J Allan for that. His outro record “Pleasure & Drugs” is the most eccentric we’ve heard Swanny, and this is for sure is my new joint from him. I picture him in the studio with lights all around him like a spaceship, and he’s got lost in translation from the world. This track is that futuristic shit that I’m speaking about, an outer-worldly combination that is put on display here, and man, huge praise to GAWF for being the mastermind on production for this track that sent the whole encounter to the stars. I dig deep into the mind of Swanny on this album, and still, I walk out feeling like I didn’t complete the task of mentioning just how crazy this album is; it’s full of life at moments, then it’s misery in the next, a beautiful nightmare if you will. It’s Swanny’s world, and we’re just living in it here. 

Swanny has already started dropping visualizers from the project, and I’m sure more is on the way. If he’s planning to perform this album live, I need to be present because I would love to see the energy in person when he performs these tracks. As always, it’s never a dull moment when we embark on a new journey with Swanny Ivy, here’s to many more, brother. If you haven’t heard the album yet, be sure to do so today and check it here while sharing it around on all social media avenues.