Talking about singer-songwriter Emma Swift’s brilliant new album The Resurrection Game — her first full-length record of all-original material — Swift’s publicist says, “This is an adult record written by an adult artist about some adult shit.” Swift is candid about the “adult shit” that led to the album, which hits stores and streaming services Friday. She had what she describes as “a nervous breakdown” in late spring 2023.
“It’s not an exaggeration to say that for a tremendously scary few weeks, I completely lost my mind,” says Swift. “I did not anticipate my life becoming a little too close to One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest for comfort, but it did.”
Swift was in England at the time of the breakdown, but was unable to secure care there. So she traveled to her native Australia, where she spent two-and-a-half weeks in a public hospital followed by three-and-a-half weeks in a private facility.
“I feel tremendously lucky to have made it out the other side of that particular experience,” she says, “and with my heart and my mind and my life more or less intact.”
Swift reflects that she couldn’t have done it without the support of her husband, British rocker Robyn Hitchcock. As Swift recovered, Hitchcock encouraged her to funnel the pain and despair she experienced into her art.
“I’m married to someone who is extraordinarily patient and wise,” she says. “He was like, ‘Yeah, babe, channel it into the songs — make the record.’
“I believe in the redemptive power of art. You don’t have to have had a nervous breakdown — we all experience grief and sadness and love and loss at one point or another in our lives. For me, music has always been a life raft.”
The album’s titular song speaks for itself. Swift lost herself for a moment, then found herself again. The titles of other songs — “Nothing and Forever,” “No Happy Endings,” “Beautiful Ruins,” “For You and Oblivion” — further reflect her dark night of the soul. “There’s a lot of post-therapy songs on this record,” says Swift.
Once she had a collection of songs prepared, she approached producer Jordan Lehning about helming the production. “Jordan is a really sensitive, lovely man who brings just a wealth of skill and taste to the recording studio,” she explains.
Lehning suggested they record the album in early January at Chale Abbey Studios on the Isle of Wight, where he would be producing sessions for another artist later that same month.
“He said, ‘I’ve got this great group of players together — do you want to make the record on the Isle of Wight?’” Swift recalls. “I jumped at the chance because it was a really cool and extravagant thing to do, and the Isle of Wight is a really beautiful but quiet, remote place.”
Prior to the sessions, Swift sent Lehning guitar-and-vocal demos of the songs she was considering for the album.
“I was elated at how beautiful these songs were and just the lyric writing and the melodies — they were just so beautiful,” Lehning says. “It was thrilling.”
Over five days at Chale Abbey at the beginning of January, keyboardist Lehning and the other players who backed Swift on all but one of the album’s 10 tracks — guitarist Juan Solorzano, bassist Eli Beaird and drummer Dom Billet — created a sweeping, dramatic pop-rock soundscape that gave Swift’s weighty material a sort of David Lynchian quality. Strings were added back in Nashville at Lehning’s studio to complete Swift’s redemptive and inspiring statement.
“Getting the songs out into the world is obviously really important for me to do,” Swift says. “But if the songs can find other people, and they can feel maybe less alone in their own experiences and challenges, then that’s a wonderful thing.”
