Noah Kessler, known by his stage name SWAYLÓ, has been making waves in the EDM scene with his unique blend of sacred sounds and rhythms that weave across cultures. In the first half of 2024 alone, he graced stages at renowned festivals including EDC Mexico, Electric Forest, Envision Festival, Texas Eclipse, and the psychedelic art exhibit Meow Wolf.
SWAYLÓ creates music for the seekers, dreamers, creators, and adventurers. SWAYLÓ is a movement and a mission driven initiative. Every aspect of a SWAYLÓ experience is rooted in ancient tradition and is a symbolic expression of art, connection and ritual. His unique productions incorporate elements of tech house, deep house, world music, tribal rhythms, trap, hyphy hip-hop instrumentals, and organic instrumentation.
SWAYLÓ creates his productions using classic retro samples from acid synths and Roland keyboards merged with drums from all over the world including timbales, Caribbean steel drums, and the African Djembe. Drawing from the global sounds of Africa, the Middle East, The Tropics, Far East India, Brazil, the Southeast, and Latin America, SWAYLÓ helps spread the word that nature is magical.
We got a chance to interview SWAYLÓ about his spiritual and musical journeys, including his newest track ‘As Above So Below’.
Check out the exclusive Electric Feels interview with SWAYLÓ below.
EF: Can you tell us a bit about yourself and how you got started in the music industry?
SWAYLÓ: I always had a love for music and sound. Music was an orientation of life for me. I came into life in New Mexico and there’s a lot of native Pueblo sound, natural sound that I was always enamored by in life. And so I have always had a really deep love for music and knowing that that’s where I wish to place my focus.
I grew up in Zuni, New Mexico. I was born in Zuni pueblo. I was conceived in South Africa. And so in a way I brought into the world and through Africa and then came into the vortex of life in Zuni, New Mexico. And I have a lot of memory of, you know, tribal music, tribal dance, tribal drumming, the drum beat, the heartbeat, the rattling. I can remember when I was two, three years old observing and hearing and feeling the way music propelled me into, in and through space, through form and function.
EF: Are there any particular artists or tracks that you would say have influenced your style?
SWAYLÓ: I would say Bob Marley, you know, a beacon of light and love and that love prevails has always been kind of an orientation North Star in a lot of ways. He made music that’s meant to uplift, created for the purpose, and articulated to elevate our human consciousness, our feelings, our emotions, our expressions, our energetics.
So, yeah, music on a scientific level is what’s inspiring me and frequencies and how those frequencies work and how our bodies receive those frequencies. For example, Prince used a lot of 432 hertz. He was tuning his music into the perfect key. And so a lot of it is about retuning the music to the perfect key, the key of the universe, the key of the divine sound. That’s what we represent.
EF: Your latest track ‘As Above So Below’ was born out of a chance encounter in Mexico City. Can you tell us more about that?
SWAYLÓ: I met Stefano Garcia, also known as Shipping Department, down in EDC Mexico a couple of years ago. He’s a real sweet, humble Mexican lad. He plays out in Acapulco, Mexico a lot. He lives there and he’s pretty plugged into the underground scene actually. He’s a really cool developing artist. He has his finger on the pulse down there, really in the scene. He’s in the clubs. He’s playing EDC on the discovery stage.
We were on a cart going to a stage and rather than going backstage, we went to listen to the music and we were just grooving and feeling that feeling of togetherness, of unity. That’s what music means to me and to him and it brought us together and we united and then we were able to articulate and express that through this track. So then we became friends and we were sharing sounds and stuff, and he shared the vocal sample that we ended up using in ‘As Above So Below’.
EF: What tools and software did you use in this track? Could you walk us through your production process?
SWAYLÓ: We worked together in Serum, going back and forth to find the sound, bass synths and drums that we were looking for. We worked with a lot of different programs in Ableton with a lot of different plugins and different synthesizers, different bass, to build out the sound design and ecosystem of sounds around that main intention, that main calling as the focal point and the meaning of the song, the purpose of the song being the focal point of the creation.
I believe in collaboration over competition. It’s one of my mantras of life. There was something magical that came out of this sort of randomness of meeting a good new friend and creating this music together. It’s also about source, and sound and intention. Something that catches consciousness, like when I hear sounds that I really relate to. I know when that sound activates in my heart.
‘As Above So Below’ is a calling of energy, a shamata. And that’s what we built a whole song around together. The calling is powerful and it’s a calling of, “through the darkness, there will always be light”. This was a more intentional piece of music that was serendipitous, how we came together and then created something really magical that unlocked an incredible calling in this track.
EF: Like many of your tracks, ‘As Above So Below’ blends instrumental and vocal sounds from all over the world. Where did you source these diverse sounds?
SWAYLÓ: Yeah, so, you know, life is a grand juggling act, right? So, and it’s about what tools can we utilize and how can we use them and how can we balance and how can we honor the instruments and the music and step into the music.
There’s so much sound all around us and anything from capturing a soundbite on a phone, an audio recording anywhere, to an instrumentation. I do work with instruments. I play percussions. I play drums. I love to record things, my own loops.
I also enjoy digging on the Internet and finding awesome groovy percussion loops, sampling, going on the Internet and sampling a little splice of some awesome percussion loop that I feel the vigor of life in.
You know, it’s like what it’s that connection point, what catches me kind of going back to that sound. What catches me in the ‘As Above So Below’ is that vocal sample that Stefano shared with me. I don’t know where he found it, but It felt like a calling and we focused on that and built around that.
Each track is like a river and realizing that I’m working with it, working in the art of it. How do I get out of the way and let this become what it’s meant to be? And it’s a really beautiful dance. Making music is a beautiful discovery process. I’m just really grateful to be exploring music and working within it.
In terms of sourcing, I would love to collaborate with more people who are singing and have a voice and a message to share with the world. I like to focus on that aspect as a producer and beat maker.
EF: Your music beautifully blends sounds from various cultures. How do you pay homage to these influences?
SWAYLÓ: It’s within the intention, the intention of love and of respect. And only I know that. I know what my intention is. And I when I play the sound within the music, it feels it comes to me and it works within that realm. I feel between my heart, my head, like a holy trinity and in between space.
So during the creative process I’m thinking, is this for the best of all? And for myself included? And that’s how I make those decisions.
EF: Tell us more about the use of “the golden frequency” in this track. Where did you first learn about it?
SWAYLÓ: It’s the OM. It’s the hum. It’s the divine sound. The sound frequency that aligns with Mother Nature and with the universe. I learned about it growing up in Zuni and growing up in nature and growing up on the Navajo Nation, alongside the Diné, my brothers. I feel the golden frequency working through life, through family, through friends. It’s the ever-present, divine sound.
My friend Jacob Lee was always a real inspiring growing up, playing the guitar, singing. We would sing together, we would play the guitar, we would share music. My father was also a musician who played instruments. I grew up with a lot of instruments around, whether it was drums, congas, djembes, rattles, shakers, stringed instruments, like kind of folkloric, like artistan treasures of magic and magic sounds. You know, tools and creations to capture incredible vibrations of sound.
I am so blessed and so grateful that I was able to experience this and practice with these instruments. And all of these instruments, they hold the qualities of sound that is within the frequency of the divine. Divine sound.
Unfortunately, there’s a bit of distortion in our capitalistic society. There’s some pretty radical things that have happened with the sound spectrum. It’s about re-tuning the music into the frequency that our spirit aligns with.
EF: What is the most magical moment you’ve had performing live and why?
SWAYLÓ: The most magical moment’s I’ve had when making music or performing live are the moments that I am able to step out of the way and let the expression come forward, the calling, leaning into the mystery, what is meant to be is meant to be. All the energies and all the people we’re experiencing and moving through and creating and evolving into something magnificent.
It’s hard to put to words and that’s why it’s music. It’s music, it’s an expression, it’s an event and it’s those moments where the dance force comes together and unites. Those are the moments that are so electrifying.
EF: What are some highlights or standout moments from this year’s “Ancient Future Present” tour?
SWAYLÓ: Yeah, it’s been a lot of fun and been a lot of wellness and just good connections with a lot of good people. I’m so grateful for all of the souls, spirits and people that I’ve met along the journey. That’s what makes me so happy. Just feeling the music being received in the dance floors, people smiling, moving, dancing, having fun, a good vibe, an uplifting vibe. It really, really moves me and I’m so grateful for that.
EF: You’ve been cooking up a new album in the studio. Can you tell us more about that?
SWAYLÓ: Yeah, totally. I’m super excited to be bringing an album out next year. It’s a real deep and intentional and heartfelt contribution that I would look to make and share and an expression that’s come through. That’s all I can tell you for now!
EF: Anything else you’d like to share with the world?
SWAYLÓ: I’m just excited to kind of, you know, let the tapestry begin weaving and I’m looking to collaborate with more folks. If you feel the music resonates with you, you connect to it, and if you have a voice and something to share, please feel free to reach out!
Listen to SWAYLÓ on Spotify, Youtube, Apple Music, and Soundcloud
Connect with SWAYLÓ on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, X.and swaylonights.com
