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Michael Gira reforms Swans - plans for new album & tour

COMING SOON, NEW SWANS ALBUM AND TOUR(S)

The song "Jim" recently added to the [Michael Gira MySpace] playlist is an acoustic demo (solo at home) recording by Michael Gira. this, and many other new songs recorded in the same way comprise many of the new (rough versions) of songs under consideration, to be fleshed out on the coming new Swans album. A cd of these acoustic versions, as well as a live (2 shows) dvd of M.Gira will be for sale very soon as a hand made (by Gira) package called I Am Not Insane (CD/DVD). This package - in a limited edition of 1000 - will be sold in order to raise money for the Swans recordings/offset the huge costs involved... coming soon...

Principal players on the Swans album are (and there will be many special guests):
Michael Gira / gtr / voice / mendicant friar act (original Swans)
Norman Westberg - Guitar (original Swans)
Christophj Hahn - Guitar (mid period Swans and most Angels of Light)
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, etc etc... (Angels, now also with Shearwater)

fucking sweet

For me this would be the most appreciated reformation ever. Most underrated, consistently good band i can think of. No Jarboe (or at least very little) i hope... I think she trys to hard.

here is more information straight from his Young Gods website:


About reconstituting Swans:

As I mentioned in a previous newsletter, 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)

Greatest news ever.

this thread woke me up to them again.thanks

I am glad of no Jarboe. Never liked her much.

Most likely won't touch the work in their prime. Totally unnecessary reunion.

Soundtracks for the Blind is fucking stunning. 'Helpless Child' is one of the most disturbing pieces of music ever committed to record.

God I hate hyperbolic, ill-considered praise. You were "disturbed" by a Swans song? God help us.

erutlucorgga wrote:God I hate hyperbolic, ill-considered praise. You were "disturbed" by a Swans song? God help us.

Aye, because unlike you I only say I listen to a band/artist if they genuinely mean something to me, and don't just wear something I have no emotional connection to on my sleeve in a piss-poor attempt to impress some cultish posse.

You'd have to have a heart of stone not to be moved by some of Michael Gira's harrowing soundscapes. Although I know that expressing earnestly how music can move you in a 'community' such as this is the anti-thesis of trendy. Yes, than Swans track disturbs me if I'm listening to it in the right mood. It sends chills up my spine and takes such a potent hold over me that it's almost as if I'm no longer existing within my own vessel. So eat me! =D

Cliche...

Sept 28 Philadelphia, PA @ Trocadero Theater
Sept 29 Washington, DC @ Black Cat
Sept 30 Boston, MA @ Middle East downstairs
Oct 01 Montreal, QC @ Le National – Pop Montreal fest
Oct 02 Toronto, ON at Lee’s Palace
oct 03 off
Oct 04 Detroit, MI @ Crofoot Ballroom
Oct 05 Chicago, IL at Bottom Lounge
Oct 06, Columbus, OH Outland Live
Oct 07 off
Oct 08 Brooklyn, NY, Masonic Temple
Oct 09 New York, NY, Bowery Ballroom
Sept 28 thru Oct 9 support= Baby Dee


Oct 21- Cork, Ireland Cyprus Avenue
Oct 22 Dublin, Ireland Button Factory
Oct 23 tba
Oct 24- Birmingham, UK - Supersonic Festival
Oct 25 Glasgow, Scotland, Arches
Oct 26 off
Oct 27 Brighton, UK , Concorde 2
Oct 28 London, UK , Koko Theatre
Oct 29 Leeds, UK a, Uni Stylus
Oct 30 Manchester UK , Academy
Oct 21 thru Oct 30 support= James Blackshaw

Nov 23 Gronignen, Netherlands, VERA
Nov 24 Utrecht, Netherlands-, Le Guess Who Fest at Tivoli de Helling
Nov 25 Brussels, Belgium AB
Nov 26 Lille, France, Le Grande Mix
Nov 27, Rouen, France, 106 Club
Nov 28 Paris, France, BBMIX festival
Nov 29, off
Nov 30 Toulouse, France, Le Phare
Dec 01 Lyon, France, Epicerie Modern
Dec 02 Geneva, Switzerland L’Usine
Dec 03 Turin, Italy, Musica90 c/o Sala Espace
Dec 04, Bologna, Italy, Locomotive Club
Dec 05 Roma, Italy, Piper Club
Dec 06, off
Dec 07 Vienna, Austria, at Arena
Dec 08 Prague, Czech Akropolis
Dec 09, Wroclaw, Poland, Firlej
Dec 10, Warsaw, Poland, Palladium
Dec 11 off
Dec 12, Hamburg, Germany Kampnagel
Dec 13 Berlin, Germany, Volksbuehne
Nov 23 thru Dec 13 support= James Blackshaw

Awesome shows.
Steve Buscemi, Sasha Grey and Trevor Dunn were there too.

Did Buscemi leave with the diamonds yeah?

I noticed they are coming to Sydney.

Should I go then?

@erutlucorgga

Anything to share regarding the setlists? Was it all new? Was the band loud enough for Giras voice?

also Sasha Grey?

Mary Hinge wrote:I noticed they are coming to Sydney.

Should I go then?

yes

Toronto show was really great, played a lot of the new album, which is awesome. I was hesitant about such a re-union & new record, but Swans totally killed it. Definitely worth seeing.

Also Baby Dee was a nice surprise/contrast opener.

meats wrote:

Mary Hinge wrote:I noticed they are coming to Sydney.

Should I go then?

yes

well, I bought a ticket. If they're crap I'll be round.

you wont regret it. From what i hear the shows are amazing.