2012 International Roundup part 1 - Swans

This is a long overdue way of me making up for the live review I never wrote after I witnessed Swans play live in Auckland way back on 6 March 2011. I’m not sure why I didn’t review it at the time. It was truly one of the most impressive and sonically intense live performances I’ve ever seen. Probably only matched by seeing Thorr’s Hammer at Supersonic in 09. Maybe it was general procrastination (most likely), all the bad shit going on back then (Mathew Hall had just been murdered and the Christchurch earthquake had both happened in the last month) or maybe I was put off by the rushed and almost flippant answers Michael Gira gave to the email interview  I had sent him (which was arranged via the local promoter). He did apologise for that in the accompanying email (due to the fact he had limited time to answer it while on tour) though and lets face it he’s a total GC in person. I got to meet him briefly after the show and whenever you order anything by Swans (or one of his other projects) from his label, Young God Records, he always signs the releases and even writes notes like “Thank you for your support” on the outside packaging. 

Anyway, here is a rundown of that show by way of reviews of the two Swans albums that were released in 2012.

The version I got

Swans - Live - We Rose From Your Bed With The Sun In Our Head
2xCD (Young God Records)

I got the pre ordered limited edition of 1000 hand printed, coloured and signed version with bonus demo songs for ‘The Seer’. It was sold (out in less than half a day) by pre-order directly from the Young God Records website in order to raise the funds to record ‘The Seer’ studio album. But because the general version is the one that’s readily available I’ll focus on the live tracks that are contained on both versions in this review*.

The version you'll get

Like my live experience ‘We Rose From Your Bed With The Sun In Our Head’ opens with a 23 minute track, which after a slow building 10 minute feedback drone intro, crashes down into a crushing rendition of ‘No words No thoughts’, the opening song from the ‘My father will guide me up a rope to the sky’ album. This sets the tone for further alternate versions of songs from that and other albums throughout. And they really are different. For example here is the “My father will guide me up a rope to the sky” version of ‘Eden Prision’: 

This is the version they played at the Powerstation, in Auckland. Which is close to the version which appears as the second to last track on ‘We Rose...”

Completely fucking different!!!

Second track is a stabbing percussive version of ‘Jim’. Once again it’s quite a variation to the mellower almost folk studio version.

Next, finishing off the first disk are three adaptations of early Swans songs. The first being ‘Beautiful Child’ originally from the 1987 ‘Children of God’ album. Unlike the original grandiose orchestral version, this one is made to sound like it’s an old wringer washing machine with throat cancer, that has been turned on to full so as to hypnotize you and draw you into it. This is followed by ‘Your Property’ from ‘Cop’ which is a mellow version that builds up in intensity throughout. Again it’s very different to the original metallic monolith of sound that it came from.

Orginal version:

Current live version:

Lastly we have “Sex God Sex” from ‘Children of God’. Surprisingly this is the most loyal adaptation on ‘We Rose..’ as it’s very close to it’s studio version.

Disc 2 opens with a 30+ minute version of ‘I crawled’ with a differently structured ‘The Seer’ as it’s Intro. But more about that in the next review. That’s followed by the version of ‘Eden Prison’ discussed earlier. The album closer is another tune from ‘The Seer’ - ‘93 Ave. B.Blues’, a strange unstructured but building composition of instrument noises which finishes with Michael Gira performing a solo vocal only version of “Little Mouth” from “My father...”

Whilst being practically the same set as the live show I saw, and despite it being a highly satisfying recommended listen, one thing that the album doesn’t capture (and most likely never could capture), is the enveloping intensity and dynamics of being in the same room as all six Swans. Hammering out their art with the intensity of a blacksmith bashing out his life’s masterwork against an Anvil.

 

Swans - The Seer - 2xCD (Young God Records)

The highly anticipated album that had been hinted at throughout the ‘My father will guide me up a Rope’ tour and it’s succeeding live album. Lets take a ride through it.....

‘The Seer’ opens with the beautifully grandiose and melodic ‘Lunacy’. One of my 3 favourite songs on the album. It builds gently with it’s repetitive title chant (chorus /choir backing vocals by Al and Mimi from Low). As it unfolds, subtle tensions are introduced in the form of discordant notes and chords. The chant then seems to become a scream, but cleverly, it’s only given a more direct delivery which creates the illusion of it being more. At this point the song breaks into it’s darker second section, with a haunting repetitive chant of “Your childhood is over”. 

“Mother of the World” plays with repetitive, almost annoying rhythms at the beginning before breaking into the main body of the song “In and out and in and out...” A good track but probably my least favourite on the album. 

“The wolf” a short 90 second folk ballad which sits nicely as an interlude before the imminent epic onslaught that’s about to happen. The only thing giving any indication of which, is the strangely placed bed of Pink noise that cuts in halfway through.

Forth is the title track, a 32 minute growing soundscape of layers and rhythms that twist and turn taking you on a voyage to places unknown and unexpected. Whereas the live version on “We rose from your bed..” culminated in a reinterpretation of “I crawled” this version is structured differently to the live album and contains new and entirely different sections. It builds up to the rather odd composition of which I assume is “The Seer” itself. What is “The Seer” exactly? Is it the mysterious Mad Hatter cat-dog creature that appears in the album cover art? Whatever it is, it comes back in the next song. 

“The Seer Returns” which would be the next in my 3 favourite tunes on the album. It’s an upbeat number with strange almost eastern harmonies and twisted poetic lyrics about a greasy beast in a field of sticky black mud. It’s almost like Lewis Carroll is being channeled through nightmare musical instruments from Wonderland. This interestingly is the first of two songs to feature Jarboe on backing vocals. Interesting in the fact that not so long ago (i.e. read my interview with Gira), Michael Gira was saying he had no interest in working with her again, and Jarboe herself had posted on facebook that she didn’t believe the new line up was the Swans without her. I’m not sure, but I think there might have been a change in feelings between the parties once she witnessed the new Swans live.

‘93 Ave. B blues’ is an unstructured droning discordant attack on the emotions, by way of creating an uneasy atmosphere which then leads into the acoustic ‘The Daughter Brings the Water’. This has a subtle underlying bed of what sounds like someone going insane screaming.

Disc one ends.

Disk two opens with the other of my 3 favourites, the beautiful female vocal (by Karen O) folk tune ‘Song for a Warrior’. This could be considered the odd tune, yet it seems to shine like a beacon of hope in the insane darkness that is ‘The Seer’. I’m sure if Gira were to make a video and promote this as a single to commercial radio (or whatever the fuck it is the mainstream music industry does these days), it would be a massive hit. I’m also certain that this is some sort of commentary or anti-War anthem aimed at the current conflict in the Middle East. The closing chorus of “Send them home” definitely points that way. But what the fuck do I know.

‘Avatar’ starts off with an industrial grating noise which is then layered by a chorus of church bells. The band kicks in with a pulsating rhythm which as you guessed it, builds in intensity before dropping back to the core of the song “Your life is in my hands....”

‘A piece of the Sky’, a 19 minute track, opens with what sounds like a fire burning and then cuts to the second contribution from Jarboe, a looped section of whaling. Other sound loops begin to layer themselves upon this, developing quite an interesting texture, until the point it starts to create an uneasy stomach churning mood. This all turns out to be a long intro, as when the final song section of “A Piece of the Sky” kicks in, becoming quite a beautiful melodic number. Creating a sense of relief, much like what happens in the earlier transition from 

‘93 Ave. B blues’ to ‘The Daughter Brings The Water’. I’d actually have to add this as my 4th favourite tune on ‘The Seer’. 

The final 23 minute closer ‘The Apostate’ is much like the title track in that it builds and builds until breaking into the core of the song, a driven pulsating hypnotic bass line. This gradually fades into almost nothing, when you get hit by an aggressive barrage of percussion and screaming before an abrupt stop. Then it’s over.

The Seer is a magical dark and mysterious journey, woven by the magician that Is Michael Gira and his incredibly talented band of Swans. It captures elements from each part of the Swans history, from the early monolithic grinding slabs of distortion to the mid era folk albums and then takes it to new uncharted places. Not only that, but it does all those things on a new level. A master work so to speak. If there is a theme here it would have to be around dark slow building tensions releasing into beauty and light . Reviewers aren’t exaggerating when they say that this is the album that Gira has been working toward throughout his 30 years of SWANS. That’s definitely what this is.

Conclusion, In order to get a fully rounded feel of the ‘Swans’ experience, you should listen to Swans studio albums to hear how the music was intended (at that particular point in time). You should listen to the live albums to hear how those songs, along with older ones, are reproduced and sometimes developed further. Also so that you can hear developing new music being performed prior to it’s studio recording. Lastly you should take any and every opportunity you can to see them live so that you can experience the full enveloping sonic experience that you can’t get from either live or studio recordings.

* - I will say one thing regarding the extra demo tracks, all performed Solo acoustic by Gira. They give you an insight into the skeletons of SWANS music and where they evolve from to their final form or forms. It’s definitely another factor that is worth exploring if solo acoustic folk music is of your liking. If you are interested in exploring this side of his music I recommend checking out “The Milk of Michael Gira” which features solo originals, demo versions of songs from ‘My Father...’ and acoustic versions of ‘Angels of the Light’ tunes.

SWANS Interview

Thanks to Maria from Frontier Touring Co for hooking this SWANS interview up!  I compiled these questions and emailed them awhile ago and recently got them back. They are a tad brief, but that is explained in the following email from Michael Gira that came with the attached answers: "pls convey my thanks! sorry for brevity, but working extremely long hours and email interviews inevitably take me huge amount of time, which doesn't exist at the moment.....  "  
The band play Auckland this Sunday so expect a review of that show soon after it happens.   Now read...


Subcide: Describe creative process for the songs that made up ‘My father will guide me up a rope to the sky’? I understand that at an early point in that process they were solo acoustic demos. What was it about them that made them become Swans songs and not ‘Angel of the Light ‘or M.Gira solo songs? Please tell us about your decision to release the demos as the limited edition “I am not insane’ album. Did this model of raising funds to record the Album work? Is it something you would do again? ‘My father...’ is an amazing album but seems way to short. When can we expect more recorded Swans material to be released? What will it be? 

Michael Gira: To develop these songs from their original acoustic versions into what they eventually became, I had to fly people in from all over the world. They had heard the songs in demo form, on acoustic guitar, and then we had to get in the studio and expand the songs. There are ideas I had that were inside the songs that I wanted to then bring out with other people. I also am always anxious for my friends and collaborators to surprise me. Accidents are always welcome too. We recorded in this huge old factory building in Brooklyn which has a basement with 18-foot ceilings and maybe 2000 square feet of space, and we set up close to each other in a semi-circle – no separation, no sound booths, nothing – and we just played, one song per day for 12 hours, over and over, until it grew and grew and became something that was animated by who we are as people rather than just some songs with specific beginnings and ends. It was so loud in that room; it was almost like being in a cathedral, where you hear can voices building in a really elating way. So, once we'd reached that stage, we pressed record, and had the basic structure of the song down that way. Now, I think certain sections of the songs could have been much longer. in fact a few of the songs in their live versions now are over 20 minutes long…we're working on new songs now, as time permits, in between tours and during sound checks etc.. we'll have a new swans album finished in the near future I'm sure.
The "i am not insane" project was simply a way to raise money to record (explained at YGR website)...

Subcide: In a recent radio interview (95 BFM’s the Wire with Troy Ferguson. Follow this link to listen http://www.95bfm.com/assets/sm/197874/3/MichaelGira.mp3) you responded to a question with something to the effect of “I don’t intellectualise my music, I’m American, I just make music and other people intellectualise it afterward”. Taking into account how the music of Beethoven, Mozart, the art of Da vinci and the writings of Shakespeare are viewed now, if in 500 years time music historians, anthropologists and other intellectuals were to unearth the music of the Swans, how would you hope it would be interpreted? How do you think it actually would be interpreted? 

M Gira: Thanks for putting me in the same company as da vinci, for god's sake - ha ha! ludicrous. anyway, really, i'm too busy working, making music, to think about things like this.

Subcide: In that same interview you answered a question about your reasons for deciding to reform the Swans as the result of a renewed need to make powerful/intense music again, or in your words “the desire to cut down a mountain with the side of my hand”. There was once a false belief that music of this nature was the sole domain of youth. What is it that drives you to create this type of music again as a more mature person? 

M Gira: I'm under the impression that if i stop moving I'll die. I live in a state of perpetual panic. Picture a pile of lard in a corner. Now picture that pile of lard vibrating.

Subcide: Early Swans material is some of the most harsh, dark and brutal music ever recorded. In 1982 when you first started creating it, almost a decade before anything else would even sound similar, it must have confused the hell out of people. While your musical influences of the time are one question? The real question is what other things were and had been going on in your life to inspire this music? Surely songs like ‘Raping a Slave’, ‘Mother my body disgusts me’ and lyrics like ‘You burn my skin like a cop in Jail’ weren’t the product of a person who grew up in a normal family, behind a picket fence, played in the highschool football team and dated cheer leaders? 

M Gira: Ha ha! really, it just seemed like the natural thing to do at the time. It felt right. It's hard to pinpoint musical influences - very disparate. here's some: mothers of invention, early pink floyd, brian eno, suicide, black flag, teenage jesus, glenn branca, throbbing gristle.

Note:  Although Michael skipped the question about non musical influences.  I've since discovered his entry on Wikipedia, which covers his early life before the band.  There were definitley some unique events that may have contributed toward the inspiration of early Swans music.  
You can read about them here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Gira#Early_life

Subcide: Swans has always changed and evolved musically throughout the course of the band. Are there any definable stylistic or thematic attributes that have stayed constant throughout? Why/why not? 

M Gira: It's a very intuitive process. i just discard what seems stale and move towards what seems vital.

Subcide: I also read recently that after writing your song ‘Eden Prison’, you discovered that there was a place called Mount Eden Prison in Auckland New Zealand. To add to this synchronicity, you will coincidentally be playing your 6 March 2011 Powerstation show only a short distance from there. Will you be paying a visit to the “walls of” Mount “Eden Prison” when you are in Auckland? Surely it will be to much of an opportunity to miss for a photo shoot? 

M Gira: That sounds a little corny. i think I'd rather use the time catching up on some sleep.

Subcide: As well as being the highlight of his experience, a friend of mine saw you perform at Supersonic 2010 in Birmingham, UK said that you were insanely loud. Can we expect the same when you play Auckland? What else should we expect of the live Swans experience? 

M Gira: I suppose it will be loud, but it's not a point of pride or anything. It just has to be that way in order for the sound the achieve the correct level of physicality.

Subcide: You run your own record label Young God Records (Michael explains YGR here: http://younggodrecords.com/Content/?C=4)   Why could you not get the rights to re-release the ‘Greed/Holy Money’ and ‘Cop/Young God’ albums? Are you still trying to get those rights? What new artists or non Swans releases do you have forthcoming on YGR? Why should we seek them out?

M Gira: I don't have the rights to cop/young god. Some bizarre records hasn't agreed to sell or license to YGR. I do buy copies from them and sell at ygr website.
Young God Records is on hold as a label, except for releasing swans music, and my own projects.

Subcide: Jarboe isn’t part of this incarnation of the Swans. My understanding is that is because it didn’t seem appropriate this time around? How has this been received in general? Is there any likely hood that we may see Jarboe involved in the Swans again in the future? 

M Gira: I don't really want to work with Jarboe again. She was a crucial part of my life at one point, and will always love and respect her, but it doesn't feel appropriate for her to be involved in this new incarnation of Swans.

Subcide: Going back to the album, your daughter Saoirse features as guest vocalist on 'You Fucking People Make Me Sick'. How did this come about? 

M Gira: It was random. she heard the song playing and asked if she could sing on it. This song was written for Devendra to sing, but it seemed to lift it to another level to include her voice as well.

Review: Swans - My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky

(Young God Records)

Every few years for some reason or other I go through periods of rediscovering the Swans.  This time it's due to both witnessing Jarboe perform solo (Note: Jarboe isn't featured in the new Swans line up) at the Supersonic festival in Birmingham last year and not long after hearing that Michael Gira had reformed the band. The eight song 'My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky' being the first recorded product of this new incarnation of the Swans.

Highlight tracks for me include album opener 'No Words/No thoughts', a ten minute epic that seems to be split in to four unique parts. The first being of a chorus of bells which is followed by rythmic slabs of sound not to dissimilar to a more textural version of the bands very early releases.  Then comes a more standard but dark rock section where Gira's Vocals are first introduced. This section builds up and down in tension until the finally kicks in - An undescribably intense passage that apears to be made up of keys, bells, guitar and percussion all rapidly coliding together until the songs final silence. 

Next highlight is 'Reeling the Liars in' which reminds me of early Leonard Cohen style folk music containing dark lyrics like "We are reeling the liars in, We are removing their face, collecting their skin, we are reeling the liars in" that paint pictures in your mind.

Then there's 'You fucking people make me sick', a melodic twisted ditty featuring the addition of haunting duet vocals from gira's daughter and suddenly cutting to a percussive section that seems to be made up of the repetition of a rumbling Kettle drum which then triggers off the texture of rumbling low Piano keys.

I recently read an interview where Michael Gira stated that after he wrote and recorded 'Eden prison'  He discovered that ironically  there was a prison called Mt Eden Prison in Auckland, New Zealand that seemed to fit the description of his lyrics.

Swans - 'Eden Prison' by theQuietus

Upon this album's release, I was excited to discover that the Swans will be playing at Auckland's Power Station on 6 March 2011.  Ironically when the Swans play that show, they will be performing only a few hundred meters from the walls of the previously mentioned song's name sake. 

For those unfamiliar with the Swans, I'd recommend 'My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky' to anyone who likes dark experimental Metal like Neurosis or early/mid 90s era Nick Cave ('Henry's Dream' in particular). For those who are familiar with them, imagine a cross of each part of Swans musical career (i.e. the very Early brutal slabs of noise, the mid era folk styles and the later era experimentation with repetitive rythims) but played by the Bad seeds. 

10 out of 10 Fishhooks through the eye sockets

For a taste of the Swans live, the below Youtube link is of the current Swans line up performing a rendition of the 'Greed/Holy Money' era (Mid 80s) song 'I Crawled'.