Folk Weekly premieres the video for Marsha Swanson’s “Something Real,” the first single from TroubleChutes.

TroubleChutes began as years of creative work with children in therapeutic and educational settings, and has grown into a project that uses music, storytelling and illustration to help children understand what they’re feeling. Swanson built the songs around themes kids actually live with: friendships that fall apart, family tension, the confusing feelings that don’t have easy names yet.

“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 video draws on footage from a completed television pilot filmed with St Mary’s Hampton CE Primary School, currently being pitched to broadcasters. Henry Thomas, best known for hosting Rockschool, appears in the pilot, his first educational presenting role since that show ended. He also lent input to the single itself. Producer Stuart Epps, whose credits include Elton John, Led Zeppelin and Chris Rea, handled additional production and mastering.

This is Swanson’s first new music since her album Near Life Experience and the single “Like an Angel.” Though written for children, the songs sit inside the same emotionally honest songwriting she’s known for.

“I’ve never seen the need for a divide between adult and children’s music,” Swanson 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.”

Psychotherapist Susie Orbach called the project a rare case of music that helps people actually change how they experience the world, saying it brings emotional literacy to songs while warming the heart. Brett Kahr praised Swanson and her team for showing that music can heal as well as please, adding that the project will help a great many struggling people. Camila Batmanghelidjh, who worked with Swanson at Kids Company and later at Oasis Charitable Trust, has described her as someone with real analytic and practical skill in working creatively with children facing complicated emotional lives.

Beyond the single, TroubleChutes includes an educational resource published by Karnac Books, built for use across schools generally, not only for children already flagged as needing extra support.

An animated film extending the world of TroubleChutes is currently in development with award winning animator Sam Chegini. One track on the educational resource carries lyrics from an earlier collaboration with author Lionel Shriver, used with permission. The video was edited by George Clare of Continuum Films, who has worked with Swanson on previous videos.

More on the project: https://troublechutes.co.uk/ More on the resource: https://www.karnacbooks.com/