(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’s 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).
