more SWANS info (new album/tour etc)

[Dr Yail Bloor]

Last week we discovered that the mighty Swans had reformed. Unable to take in such massive news (hotly following the Godflesh live reunion) it took until now until we could put together a news story, but thankfully Swans and Young Gods maestro Michael Gira has made sense of it all by releasing this tidy little statement. Swans are dead, long live Swans:

Hello There,

I have decided to focus my energy on Swans once again. I'm reactivating that project. A new album is in the works, and touring will follow in fall of 2010. In order to help raise funds / help defray the considerable costs of recording and promoting the new album, I have made a special CD/DVD limited edition handmade package called 'I Am Not Insane' available exclusively at the YGR website. You can read about the CD/DVD, and my decision to reactivate Swans at this link:

http://younggodrecords.com/Releases/Detail.asp?C=2326

Here’s a few comments below from the page at the link above.

About Reconstituting Swans:

....there was a point a few years ago during a particular show when I was on tour with Angels Of Light, with Akron/Family serving as the backing band. It was during the song The Provider. Seth’s guitar was sustaining one open chord (very loudly), rising to a peak, then crashing down again in a rhythm that could have been the equivalent of a deep and soulful act of copulation. The whole band swayed with this arc. Really was like riding waves of sound. I thought right then, “You know, Michael, Swans wasn’t so bad after all...” . Ha ha! It brought back – in a flood – memories, or maybe not memories, more a tangible re-emersion in the sensation of Swans music rushing through my body in waves, lifting me up towards what, I can only assume, will be my only experience of heaven. It’s difficult – and probably pointless – to try to describe this experience. It’s ecstatic, I suppose – a force of simultaneous self negation and rebirth. Really, I probably only experienced this a handful of times to such an extreme extent during the entire 15 year history of Swans. All the elements have to align perfectly, and you can’t force it, though you might constantly strive for it. I don’t mean to be too lofty here, but it’s a fact. I’m talking about my own experience of the music (though I’d hope people in the audiences along the way might have experienced a similar episode). When I ask myself if I believe in God, I start to say NO, but then I remember that sensation, and I’m not so sure. So I want more of that, before my body breaks down to such an extent that it won’t be possible any more. So I’m doing it.

Naturally, some of the material for this new record will be songs, centered around the voice and words. Other parts (I’m hoping) will be reaching for what I’ve described above. One thing I want to point out right now: THIS IS NOT A REUNION. It’s not some dumb-ass nostalgia act. It is not repeating the past. After 5 Angels Of Light albums, I needed a way to move FORWARD, in a new direction, and it just so happens that revivifying the idea of Swans is allowing me to do that. I’ll be using what I learned in the last several years to inform the way this new material develops, while carrying forward from where Swans left off with its final album Soundtracks For The Blind, and in particular, Swans Are Dead. If you have expectations about how Swans should be, that’s your business, but it would be a disservice to both of us if I were to make music with your needs in mind, and the music would certainly suffer as a result. In any event, I certainly never thought this day would arrive, but it’s inevitable, it’s here, it’s fate, so I’m succumbing to it.

Helping me in this quest are the fantastic musicians and friends listed below. I’ll enter the studio with the songs, we’ll hash them out together, someone will come up with something unexpected, then that will lead to new ideas, the song will take a different trajectory and the material will grow on its’ own. This is what I’m hoping, anyway.

Here’s the main musicians (though probably a lot of guests on the recording). These are the people best suited – in terms of my relationship with them and their particular musical attributes - to help move the music forward :

Michael Gira / guitar / voice / mendicant friar act (original swans)

Norman Westberg – guitar (original swans)

Christoph Hahn – guitar (mid period swans and most angels)

Phil Puleo – drums, percussion, dulcimer etc etc (final swans tour and most angels)

Chris Pravdica – bass and gadgets (flux information sciences / services/ gunga din)

Thor Harris - drums, percussion, vibes, dulcimer, curios, keys, etc etc... (angels, now also with shearwater)


Thanks Very Much, and God Bless You,

Michael Gira / Swans / Angels Of Light / Young God Records

[danox3]

Pre-ordered my cd this morning.

[Wang Mandu]

"credit as 'executive producer' in artwork to Swans album"

Haha. Need to buy this.

[caldwell.the.great]

"credit as 'executive producer' in artwork to Swans album"

Haha. Need to buy this.

I was going to post about this too. "For just $100 you can be in the Swans liner notes!!!"

....... that might be worth it

[danox3]

"credit as 'executive producer' in artwork to Swans album"

Haha. Need to buy this.

I was going to post about this too. "For just $100 you can be in the Swans liner notes!!!"

....... that might be worth it

I admit I considered it for a sec, but that's lame.

[jefferson]

My guess is he can't pay for his new kid just touring solo anymore.

[Vanessa America]

[Wormholegenerator]

order'd

[_-_-_-_-]

My guess is he can't pay for his new kid just touring solo anymore.

You are probably right, but I think that Gira is one of the few people doing the reunion thing that totally earns a pass on being called out for doing it just for the money (mainly because I don't see him doing this half assed.)

[HeyWard]

....

SPOILERSPOILER_SHOW

[Foot Foot]

i'm loving those new songs he posted.

[HeyWard]

i'm loving those new songs he posted.

I can't bring myself to listen to them; I feel they'll either be a disappointment or it'll ruin the experience once the entire piece is available for consumption.
STOP TEMPTING ME, FUCKERS!!!

[Wormholegenerator]

I guess I should of checked my mail yesterday...

[bloodybloodlicker]

The new cd is great - I recognized a lot of the songs from his recent tour. The hand-written hello from him is also very AWESOME!!

[caldwell.the.great]

He's so fucking cool. My room mate ordered the new CD, but I haven't yet. I guess I should get on that if there are any left. Having those drawings would be pretty cool. They remind me a lot of the kind of artwork Smegma posts here.

Hey Smegma, do these drawings remind you of anyone in particular?

[Wormholegenerator]

Hey Smegma, do these drawings remind you of anyone in particular?

You might be thinking of Mike Diana? You should also look up German expressionist woodcuts

[danox3]

The CD is awesome, I have all of his Singing to You from my Room CD's, and all the benefit live CDs he's put out. I like Angels of Light, but prefer just him and a guitar (that Guild he plays is gorgeous!) pouring his soul out to a lone mic.

Artwork book is cool too, thought about getting some cheap Dollar store frames, and decorating my music room with them.

[EEEOOOEEEOOOEEEOOO]

FFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!

[Astronaut]

I am probably going to get raked over the coals for this, but I am finding it harder and harder to feign interestin Gira's latest "news." I respect him and his music, but this really seems like a money grab. sure, the quality will be good, as can be expected from Gira, but personally I have more interest in filling out my original Swans collection and hearing new Angels of Light recordings.

[12 Months of Mao]

People keep bringing up cash grabs in this thread like Swans had some enormous fan-base that Angels of Light didn't have. You'll still be paying $20 or so to see Swans in the same small club that you would have seen Angels of Light in. He's financing this move with self-released stuff the same way he did with AoL and probably for the same reason; he doesn't make a lot of money doing this. And considering that both bands have functioned in the same way (Gira hiring a bunch of people and telling them exactly what to do) I can only hope that the name change just indicates his desire to do something a little bit darker and oppressive now. I felt like We Are Him was kind of hinting at that.

Damn that self-released thing sold out quick.

[danox3]

I would have bought this regardless of what he's funding. He wants to buy a new car? Put out a new CD. That he's using the proceeds to fund a new project, how could any fan object? The money has to come from somewhere, since he owns the label, there is no corporation to pay the tab.

[Astronaut]

It just seems like no reason to reassemble the band and call them Swans. hopefully, it's similar in style and sound, but considering the limited run of most of this it's not like I'll ever hear it anyway. maybe I'm just upset because I don't have the time or money to follow his current projects. it would certainly be hard to match the previous Swans material.

[chrusti(ns)anity]

Really like the new CD. I'm not sure what these new songs are gonna sound like as Swans, except for "Eden Prison," which I can only imagine is gonna be heavy as shit in its final form.

[kevin hash]

Not enough talking about this band.

Since we are dredging up old threads and all.

Saw Swans in 2017 and they were insanely loud and so very good. I saw Gira solo the following year with Norman Westberg as the opener which was equally brilliant.

[godofdeadlydeath]

Man people still pretending to like this band in 2021? Are we pretending Jarboe + Neurosis was a good collaboration too?

(Never listened to Swans proper, just being an asshole)