Unlike so many modern guitarists who seem hell-bent on proving that they can do the work of three or more players regardless of the cost to the music, there is a distinct lack of Boom-Chick, Slap-Tap or flashy Widdley-Diddley stuff on this record, and it’s a refreshing change. The performances conjure impressions of conceptual skeletons being explored and fleshed out through improvisational experimentation. Although this music will not intrude as background fill at your next dinner party, it pays substantial dividends if given a little attention and time to enter into the atmospheric space that it creates. At times tentative and perhaps self consciously awkward – then confident and bold, the pieces are mostly always engaging. (1/28/11, Steve Reinthal, Work & Worry).

This week’s lesson in intricate, elegant guitar work comes in the form of a new album from Jameson Swanagon, entitled Desolation Happiness. The tracks on Desolation Happiness (all instrumental) shift moods frequently, moving from melodic finger-picking to eerie avant-folk at the drop of a hat. The album successfully exposes Swanagon’s deftness with his craft, both as a performer and a composer." (11/29/10, Anna Gazdowicz, The Bay Bridged).

Guitarist Jameson Swagnon showed-off his goldmine of talent by performing both with Rad Cloud and Grand Lake. (1/7/10, SF Weekly Blog).

Guitarist Jameson Swanagon handles his with such tender precision, swiftly extracting notes handfuls at a time like a skilled surgeon from an open body. (6/09 Brion Echon, West Coast Performer Magazine)

"The Big Feet" manages to reconcile some of Swanagon's more adventurous minimal guitar/tape loop pieces with striking visuals and a morbid, horror-film sense of humor. The locus of the piece is at about the halfway point, as the camera pans across an empty California beach to the sound of warped bells. Swanagon himself struggles against the waves, his shirt inflated comically, his foot bound by a rope, and his deliberately convoluted guitars pointing in no particular tonal direction. (5/16/09 - D, Blog: Big States)

On (Nevermint) you'll swim through placid streams of slippery guitar strings . . .to the rougher waters of Jameson Swanagon's mangled, atonal guitar improvisations. (5/09 Brian Echon, West Coast Performer Magazine)

What really sells (Grand Lake) for me is Jameson Swanagon’s guitar work.   It’s twangy one moment, wild and expressive the next, and blissful at other times. (4/12/09 - Blog: Pasta Primavera)

Swanagon clearly knows his instrument well. The focus he maintains while playing is a joy to watch. But what is most striking about his guitar playing is his ability to break away from his technical knowledge and blaze his own trail with subtle, more rougher elements. (3/30/09 Blog: New and Used Records).

Sweeping, elegant guitar work. (3/28/09 The SF Deli)

The guitar solos can be messy and erratic but, again, mesmerizing in their frenetic qualities. (4/05 Glen Starkey, San Luis Obispo New Times)