Local singer Sara Swenson releases fourth album

Singer-songwriter Sara Swenson pursues an international love story and chronicles it in a collection of hybrid soundscapes in her new album Runway Lights.Swenson’s fourth studio album, released this month, captures snapshots of her 18-month experience of living abroad and her new marriage. Produced by Don Chaffer, Runway Lights melds Swenson’s vocals with pop, folk, soul and electronic/ambient textures. In 2007, the Platte County High School graduate first tried her hand at songwriting at the offhand suggestion of a guitar salesman. Within four years, Swenson released three records (Sara Swenson, 2008; All Things Big and Small, 2010; and Never Left My Mind, 2011). In that time frame, she also picked up two Kansas City Singer-Songwriter of the Year awards, performed at Lilith Fair and placed a song on the season finale of ABC’s “Private Practice.” “Sara Swenson has done something you don’t always see in singer/songwriters,” Chaffer said. “She’s gotten better again. ... Her ideas for the shape and sound of the album are ambitious but grounded in real emotions and real purpose.” The album features nine tracks and is available at saraswenson.com, both in hard copy and for download, and through iTunes.