Washing out the dense blood of hands.
(Swans is a band from New York City, New York, United States, active from
1982 to 1997, reformed in 2010, founded & led by singer, songwriter
and multi-instrumentalist Michael Gira.
Marginally associated with the no wave scene at first, their
original sound was slow and extremely heavy, with live performances that
were often so brutal and physical that in a number of instances certain
audience members were made ill, police were called and venues were shut
down. This early physical sound is possibly best heard on the live
album Public Castration Is a Good Idea.
Their initial style shifted a little by the time Swans released
seminal twin albums Greed and Holy Money. The music had sped up, at
times being even more punishing than their earlier output. Drum machines
and samples were slightly more prominent. Michael Gira was joined
vocally by Jarboe which gave the band a broader sonic range. Tracks
featuring Jarboe were often quieter, even pretty, acting as counterpoint
to the more harrowing themes on the albums. Over time, this style would
come to dominate the Swans’ output, although they somehow seem to have
been able to make a strummed acoustic guitar seem as brutal as their
earlier amped-up assaults. The lush instrumentation of their albums from
the late 1980s and the 1990’s anticipated the birth of post-rock.
Swans eventually broke up in 1997; Gira went on to release some solo
work, later forming the band The Angels of Light, who continue many of
the themes and styles found in (later) Swans. Jarboe releases solo work
and frequently works with other bands and artists; recently she released
an album with Neurosis, a group clearly heavily influenced by Swans.
The influence of Swans upon the music world is profound. Across
their 15 years of existence, the various styles they explored gave birth
to grindcore (Napalm Death, Nasum) modern "cinematic" post-rock
(Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Mono), and atmospheric sludge metal (Isis,
Neurosis).
In January 2010, Michael Gira reactivated Swans and released a new
album, My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky on September 2010,
and the band simultaneously embarked on a world tour scheduled to last
eighteen months. The band had been chosen by Portishead to perform at
the ATP I’ll Be Your Mirror festivals that they curated in July 2011 at
London’s Alexandra Palace and in September 2011 in Asbury Park, New
Jersey.
It is a live double album released after the bands official dissolution. The
recordings featured are gathered from the bands last years - the first
half being compiled from their (at the time) final world tour in 1997,
the second being a recording from a single show ascribed to Norway in
1995, although precise details appear lost to time).
