Although Swann and Morykit now live in Ashland, Oregon, their popularity in the Seattle area of the Pacific Northwest has not diminished as this was their fifth appearance at The Triple Door, a venue which they describe as, being ideally suited to their performances.

 

Referring to The Triple Door, Morykit says, “Just look at it, it is a really nice environment for the audience. It is a dinner club. The sound on stage is great and the sound out front is great. It has about three hundred seats, which is the perfect size for what we are doing, especially with what we are doing tonight, when there are just the two of us, and a percussionist and a cello player. They (The Triple Door) just do everything right.”

 

Adding to Morykit’s thoughts concerning the types of venues in which Gypsy Soul prefers to perform, Swann adds, “We like to offer our fans places, where there is acoustic excellence, where they can enjoy a beautiful sound, have a lovely evening and do a date night.”

 

“We like to play in theaters where we can give them an experience,” says Morykit.

 

On this evening, during most of Gypsy Soul’s performance, the lights were kept low, the setting and positioning of the artists leaned toward minimalist and close, with the music being warm and full. It reflected what Morykit was overheard telling the sound engineer during their sound check that afternoon, that he wanted to create an intimate environment on the stage.

 

“The songs that we are doing tonight are very personal and they are very intimate. We are choosing not to have that whole big band experience, so it’s essentially an unplugged performance tonight. We are really stripping things down to what the songs are. A lot of the times, it is going to be acoustic guitar and voice, or acoustic guitar, cello and voice. On the new album, it has that kind of feel to it. It is really about trying to draw people into the performance, so that they are a part of it, as opposed to, ‘We’re on stage, and you’re out there.’ It’s like being in the round and that’s the kind of feel that we want to have tonight, even though we are on the stage with the lights and all of this kind of stuff. We still want to have the feel that it is an intimate gathering among friends,” explains Morykit.

 

What kinds of fans would come out to listen to a duo whose diverse musical repertoire includes their original tune, “Who,” which was conceived when Swann first learned of the plane crash that killed John F. Kennedy, Jr., and covers of monster hits, by legendary artists such as Stevie Wonder’s “Superstitious,” or The Moody Blues’ “Nights In White Satin.” 

 

In describing Gypsy Soul’s fans, Swann says, “The common denominator is these people love music. They love all kinds of music. They listen to NPR, they read, they support the arts and they are pretty socially conscious.”

 

Morykit continues to talk about their fans, “They are the disenfranchised radio listeners, who are tired of listening to radio stations that play the same twelve to fifteen songs in rotation, which is what a lot of radio has become. They (the fans) are looking for different things and they want to support independent music. They want to support the arts. A lot of them we find, are or used to be involved in the arts, like our friend Jim who is a painter and he also owned a nightclub. He loves music and if we give him our music, he will hear all of the extra time (put into the recording) to get the sound the way that you want it to be.  He will (notice) the nuances. We appreciate that.” 

 

Cilette Swann and Roman Morykit have vast musical interests and therefore their music is comprised of numerous elements and influenced by an array of genres. To describe Gypsy Soul’s music as a melting pot would not be accurate, for it would suggest music that lacks an identity of its own, which could not be further from the truth. The duo might be more accurately described as carefully constructing a mural, which reflects Swann’s Irish heritage (Celtic) and the couple’s love for soul and R&B music, infused by Morykit’s love for classic rock.