Swans

Swans are arguably the kings of experimental music. Whether it be them rising to the top of the grim no wave scene in the early 80's, the as-weird-as-it-gets headf*ck of 'Soundtracks For The Blind' or their recent efforts since reuniting in 2010, Swans have always been in a field of one when it comes to the strange and they only seem to get better as time goes on. With 2014's 'To Be Kind' and last year's 'The Glowing Man', Swans seem to be at their peak having managed to craft these super long, and drawn out records, but being able to keep you firmly on course with them for the journey they take you on, thanks to tons of groove and hypnotic charm. They hit Leeds tonight for a show that nothing can prepare you for. 

Before Swans melt you though, Little Annie delivers an incredibly moving, tender set. Her songs are delicate and soulful and her voice is so warm and charming, that it feels like a blanket comforting you. If you like your music gentle, check this lady out.  

For the first several minutes, it feels like they're building something, with creaking, ringing out feedback from minimal playing of their instruments. Their structure develops into a monolith, that won't be taken down by anything for the next two and a half hours Swans play. There's a lot to Swans' sound that makes them impenetrable and the first and most important aspect is how sinfully loud Swans play. Seriously, even when it comes to the light, gentle parts of their songs, it'll leave your body shaking and your ears clinging for dear life, probably because of the several amps Swans have with them. Naturally when Swans do come at you in full force, with barrages of sledgehammer like guitar stabs, it leaves you feeling fragile.

Continue reading: Swans - Leeds Stylus 20th of May 2017 Live Review

Where to begin when talking about Swans? This is the band with arguably the richest history in experimental music. For starters there's their significance to ugly no-wave and noise rock in the eighties, with their first run of albums, then their evolution into more ethereal music which led up to their tenth and final album before initially breaking up, 1996's 'Soundtracks For The Blind' an album about two and a half hours long which included soaring post-rock, animalistic noisy numbers as well as twisted exercises in the sinister thanks to an eerie use of sampling and the record is widely considered a masterpiece in the strange.

However, when Swans got back together in 2010 it was more than just a reunion, it was a rebirth. A new era for the band which has seen them put out some of the strongest material of their legacy, most notably 2014's 'To Be Kind' a two-hour long epic which balanced their freakiness with solid, captivating groove and arguably dethroned 'Soundtracks For The Blind as Swans' magnum opus. They're back with newest release 'The Glowing Man' which sees Swans continue to be mesmerising with their work.

This album kicks off with the haunting 'Cloud of Forgetting', with each instrument feeling like a looming spirit, whether that be the minimal guitars, the exhausted drums, Michael Gira's drawn out, morose voice or the bendy keyboard. Each element drags itself along for ten minutes before coming back to the world of the living with everything becoming rock solid in the form of the guitars and other instrumentation stomping in unison.

Continue reading: Swans - The Glowing Man Album Review

Some artists and works have a power to eclipse anything that stands close. A popular website (scaleofuniverse.com) shows the scale of a quark, zooming out to a germ, to a man, to a planet and, finally, to the largest known galaxy in the universe. Keep scrolling for hours past its defined outer-limit and there lies Swans. Thirty years on from the birth of Michael Gira's confrontational, challenging, bewildering project, comes The Seer; a two-hour masterpiece that Gira himself claims to be the summation and culmination of the last three decades. A man prone to profound statements, this may yet prove to be merely a sound bite, particularly when noting the fact that the band are showcasing newer material live already, but The Seer is certainly the most accomplished work of his life.

Continue reading: Swans, The Seer Album Review