Biography
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Years Active
1998 – present (26 years)
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Founded In
London, Middlesex County, Ontario, Canada
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Members
- Alex Wright
- Andy Magoffin
- Brady Parr
- Eric Howden
raised by swans is Canadian solo artist Eric Howden (note: "members" section on this website is incorrect).
A singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, Howden has written, recorded and released three full-length albums as raised by swans thus far; Codes and Secret Longing (2005), No Ghostless Place (2010), and Öxnadalur (2014). His fourth album, 'raised by swans is the name of a man', is set to come out in two volumes in 2021; four songs from Volume 1 were released on December 14th, 2020, on bandcamp exclusively.
Academy Award and Palm d’Or nominated director Atom Egoyan included three songs from Codes and Secret Longing in his film, Adoration (2009) and two songs from No Ghostless Place in the erotic thriller Chloe (2010). “Violet Light” from Codes and Secret Longing is featured in novelist Douglas Coupland’s film Everything’s Gone Green (2007), voted Canadian Feature Film of the Year at the Vancouver International Film Festival.
Before 2013, raised by swans often erroneously presented himself in biographical information and interviews as a band rather than a solo artist, as he felt more comfortable hiding within a fictional collective. He eventually shared the truth in an interview conducted in between the release of No Ghostless Place and Öxnadalur.
'raised by swans is the name of a man' is a double album upon which he sings all of the singing and plays every instrument. While writing its 22 songs, he lost a dear cat friend who had been with him for 22 years, 6 months and 17 days, managed a tiny grocery store in the most remote municipality in Iceland (current population 53), briefly delivered post in the most remote municipality in Iceland, was wrongfully suspected of being a spy in the most remote municipality in Iceland, and planted 10,000 baby birch trees in the hills of Öxnadalur, all by himself.
raised by swans has performed concerts in Russia, Germany, Iceland, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Greece, Serbia, Hungary, Croatia, the Czech Republic, and Canada, where he lives most of the time.
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