Dante Swan didn’t grow up in the nicest Chicago neighbourhood, so he stayed indoors and found solace in music. His multifarious tastes have since bled into his guitar playing, with his talents now recognized by Tosin Abasi.
The Animals As Leaders guitarist is eager to showcase the versatility of his builds, which is why Justus West, Josh De La Victoria, and Spiro Dussias all have a home in its artist roster.
Dante Swan is another perfect fit: while his technical ability is to be applauded, it’s his polyamory for djent, trap, electronic and nu jazz – and the seamless patchworking of those styles – that makes him far more than just another shredder.
Away from his solo work you’ll find him posting loops online, encouraging artists of all genres to sample his ideas, and enriching alternative R&B group Dreamer Isioma & The Celestials with “mathy, shoegazey” licks.
“One thing I’ve learned is that space is very important,” Swan says. “It’s something a lot of guitarists don’t pay enough attention to. Space and repetition offers space for the ear and brain to register something as a melody. Otherwise, it’s hard to find the focus point.”
His solution: “Sometimes I’ll just riff and stop playing at certain points, or I’ll cut out them out on my DAW and go, ‘Okay, what does this sound like?’ If it works I’ll write a part with those spaces in mind.
He notes that he’s very big on looping back, which is where his trap background kicks in. “I don’t like open-ended things that don’t connect well,” he explains. “If I put on a delay pedal, I want it to still sound good as I loop back to the first part.”
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That cyclical approach injects an infectious fluidity into his music; and if he’s going to add something into a song’s palette, it has to be warranted. “A solo should feel like a part of the song’s message.
“Does it tell a story, or would a song have been just as great without it? I’ve been to five Plini shows, and at every single one, the crowd is singing the guitar parts. That’s how you know you wrote a good part.”
His latest single, Eyeless, is the best showcase of his guitar playing yet, proving that prog metal and trap are perfect bedfellows – even if no one else has made the connection. “Honestly, if you turn the deep guitars of djent into 808s, it’ll sound like trap,” he explains.
I always tell my students to listen to music without guitar; you’ll get so inspired
“I always tell my students to listen to music without guitar; you’ll get so inspired. Listen to Kendrick Lamar do a cool triplet thing; that can easily translate into a riff. It stops you recycling the same ideas over and over again.”
Swan’s first electric guitar was a “knock-off of a knock-off,” and he’d since adopted a Schecter Hellraiser and Rick Derringer’s Warrior signature as his main axes. Then along came his Abasi Larada 8. “The ergonomics are really nice,” he says.
“When I got it, I’d play it all day and only come out my room for food at night, like a gremlin.” Having found most humbuckers too dark, and not gelling with single coils, its Abasi signature Fishman Fluence pickups were a game-changer.
“Each pickup sounds so different; the neck is really smooth-sounding, and the bridge is really percussive. It’s great for selective picking and twangy rhythms; it’s not too distorted. I want to deck it out with a kill switch to go that extra step, and have some crazy options when I’m playing with rappers.”
Abasi has been tracking Swan’s progress since 2018. ”For me, it’s not how many are watching, it’s who is watching – Tosin engaging made me feel like I was doing something right.”
With his profile having grown exponentially since then, he’s found new ways to stand out, such as putting a capo on the second or fourth fret, “since everyone is doing harmonics now,” and thinking in intervals to ensure he has spice in all the right spots.
Abasi’s endorsement underscores that evolution. “I’m honored to be part of it,” Swan says, “but it’s also really intimidating. Abasi has some monster players. I’m focusing on writing something that will impress past, present, and future me.
“And that doesn’t mean shredding at 240bpm – I want to look at it and think, ‘I really wrote a good melody there.’ I’m an Abasi artist now; I need to up my game.”
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