Marsha Swanson has released her new single “Something Real,” and with it comes something bigger than a song. The track launches TroubleChutes, a project built from years of Swanson’s work helping children make sense of what they feel.
The idea grew out of therapeutic and educational settings, where Swanson spent years working alongside children and families. TroubleChutes brings together original music, lyrics, illustration and storytelling, all pointed at the same emotional target, so a child struggling with a feeling has more than one way in. A song might land where a conversation stalls. A picture might open a door that words can’t.
“At the heart of TroubleChutes is the idea that music can bypass language, allowing emotional truth to be felt, whilst words can help name those feelings,” Swanson says.
The project stretches well past the single. Karnac Books has published an accompanying educational resource, and a television pilot has already been filmed with St Mary’s Hampton CE Primary School. That pilot is now being pitched to broadcasters.
This is Swanson’s first new material since her album Near Life Experience and the single that followed it, Like an Angel. She’s written TroubleChutes for children, but she isn’t interested in drawing a hard line between music for kids and music for adults.
“I’ve never seen the need for a divide between adult and children’s music,” she says. “Children experience the same emotional truths as adults, love, loss, fear, friendship and hope. They simply encounter them through a different stage of life. The music is written, recorded and performed with exactly the same integrity, only the perspective changes.”
Henry Thomas, known for hosting Rockschool, contributed to “Something Real” and also appears in the pilot, marking his first educational presenting role since the original series. Stuart Epps, whose production credits include Elton John, Led Zeppelin and Chris Rea, handled additional production and mastering on the track.
Susie Orbach had this to say about the project: “Music expresses our longings, our sorrows, our sadnesses and our hopes. Rarely does it nudge us into helping us change ways of being that enhance our experience. Marsha’s work does exactly that. She brings emotional literacy to songs whilst warming our hearts.”
Brett Kahr added his own praise: “Marsha Swanson and her team deserve admiration for showing that music provides pleasure but can also help heal pain. This project will save many broken souls.”
Camila Batmanghelidjh, who worked alongside Swanson at Kids Company and later at Oasis Charitable Trust, called her “immensely talented,” pointing to her “great analytic and practical skills” in working with children facing complicated emotional lives.
“Something Real” is the first public glimpse of TroubleChutes, with a full rollout still to come. A music video is planned to follow, weaving in footage from the pilot to widen the world the project has built. The single is available now on all major streaming platforms.
You can listen here.
