YouTube is just full of surprises, isn’t it? For instance, today I learned that there’s a channel called Electro Swing Thing, which recently uploaded a compilation video called “Electro Swing Mix - Best of 2023.” This surprised me, as I was under the impression that electro swing—that fist-pumping cocktail of classic jazz samples, scratching and drum machines served up by the likes of Caravan Palace, Parov Stelar, and Waldeck—had disappeared during the mid-2010s along with Blackberry phones, Blockbuster Video, and Susan Boyle.
Not so, it seems. In fact, electro swing is apparently still so well loved that two superfans saw fit to design a multimedia experience with the divisive musical genre as its soundtrack. Back in 2021, Broadway composer and lyricist Andrew Gerle (Gloryana, Meet John Doe) teamed up with Emmy-winning scriptwriter DJ Salisbury (The Man Who Would Be King, Million Dollar Quartet) to create a speakeasy-themed spectacular, pitched as “a time-traveling, decadent night out” to be visited “in person, or with friends a thousand miles apart.”
First mooted during the bad old days of COVID lockdowns, Whisper Darkly was conceived as an immersive live musical theater performance, with virtual reality and podcast options for those unable—or unwilling, in those paranoid pandemic days—to enjoy it in person. From the titillating concept clips still viewable
