Those who curate music possess more powers than the traditional listener. Understanding sights and sounds from a bigger perspective provide a heaping of insight to the craft. With Swim Team, the Chicago collective responsible for sounds aligned with Red Bull, Reebok and MTV, the group easily unraveled their talents into their refreshing compilation, Muse Project.
The 12-track package features themes of love, friendship and the art of the hustle. Tracks like “Crash” and “Rose Colored Glasses” toy with relaxing melodies while a cleverly used sample of Tove Lo’s “Habits (Stay High)” on “All Together Now” dishes perfect grooves for any getting ready playlist. Between drum patterns are the use of actual instruments like the guitar on the chill “No Rush” with Paul Murray.
Made up of Save Money member Brian Fresco, Grammy-award winning writer/poet J. Ivy, Houston rapper Fat Tony, emerging artist Simone Bisous, Johnathan “JDP” Pratt, Tee White, Traxxion, and DC, their talents blend favorably.
Many of the tunes carry a message of inspiration and love, a message the group conveys in their work with others like fellow Chicago creatives such as Chance The Rapper, Vic Mensa and BJ The Chicago Kid. It’s also helped them win a Daytime Emmy for the educational Netflix series Story Bots in 2017.
“The project has been in the works for almost 3 years,” the group said in a statement to VIBE. “Some of these songs were written years ago and we’ve been wanting to put it out for a while but the timing finally made sense and we were able to execute a proper roll out. Big shout out to everyone who inspired the songs on this projects and all the artist that came through and shared their talents. Simone Bisous, C Rich, J Ivy, Brian Fresco, Fat Tony, Paul Murray, Chris James who played all the awesome guitar all over the project, and Brittany Clarke.”
The group also made an effort to have the art direction and other elements of the project streamlined by women, adding more brownie points from their fan base.
Jam out to the Muse Project below.