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

It has been 13 years since M. Gira has released any new work under the Swans moniker. Since the group’s dissolution, he’s been active with groups like the Angels of Light and running his record label, Young God (title taken from a Swans EP from way back when). Earlier this year, he announced that Swans were returning with a new record and a tour in the fall. Until then, Swans were just a group I’d heard about in passing – their music, bleak; their albums being some of the most depressing musical artifacts ever recorded, live concerts being insanity – percussionists that banged on pieces of sheet metal with bike chains over pulsing bass notes for 8 minutes at a time at crushing volumes. Clearly, I knew I had to see this band.



Within a few days, I had absorbed as much of their music as I could, but I also saw the growth and change of the band. Early to mid 80s were dark, abrasive, claustrophobic examples that proved music was able to change one’s outlook on life within 2 minutes of hearing a song called “Stay Here” or “I’ll Cry for You”. The late 80s were still kind of bleak, but a few questionable personnel choices left us with albums that were over-produced and just lacking in about everything that made the early ones great. The 90s were interesting and confusing at first, but in the end, produced worthwhile stuff. So how does Swans 2010 stack up?



Well, you won’t be confusing this with your (or my) copy of Filth or Greed anytime soon, but it is, hands down, one of the finest albums I’ve heard this year, regardless of genre or band or whatever other consideration you might throw at me. And I’ve only had this album for a few days as I write this. The music sounds like Swans and doesn’t sound like Swans. Gira’s voice isn’t the low growl we used to hear 27 years ago, but rather has more of a crooner thing going for it (those who’ve heard any Angels of Light will know what I mean) and the music, oh my gosh, THE MUSIC. It starts with “No Words/No Thoughts” which begins with some church bell sounds then 2 and a half minutes of unrestrained bashing of guitar chords and cymbals THEN the actual song comes in. It comes chugging around like the train that could, building momentum until it again erupts into a wall of glorious noise to only come back all the way down and then repeat and repeat again after a band-less verse. “Reeling the Liars In” has a hymn-like quality to it with an almost campfire sing-a-long chorus of “I’m reeling the liars in/the only true thing, the place to begin, is to burn up the liar pile…” Gira might have toned down the some of his lyrics, but danged if the meanings didn’t stay the same. “Jim” is another one that starts quiet enough and once again grabs the listener in a pulls into noise, complete with a mandolin on top. “My Birth” has all the volume and tempo you’d expect with this awesome high 2-note guitar line on the top of everything.



Going to side two, we have a duet with Devendra Banhart (who released his music on Young God) and Gira’s son on a track whose name I probably can’t put in The Penguin, but know that the song is almost beautiful and the contrast of the two voices works way better than anyone could have thought. It’s not novelty, it works. “Inside Madeline” is 4 minutes of growing crescendos and pounding rhythms until it almost all drops out and we have some violin and mandolin with vocals for the last 2 minutes. Usually, I’d say that this was an example of poor track sequencing or laziness, but it all comes together. “Eden Prison” is the one that people who have been checking out this album would know as it was the one free download floating around. Once again, solid, and if anything, it sounds better in the context of the album rather than being a standalone piece. And last is the ditty entitled “Little Mouth”, a quiet number with acoustic guitars and ending with another Gira vocal.



There are a lot of factors as to what makes this a great album. There’s a cracker-jack group of players that have all played in Swans or Angels before (I got really excited seeing Norman Westberg on guitar) and Gira just wrote 8 fantastic songs. He also produced the thing and was able to release it by selling and album of demos and a book of his art and everything that he got from those went straight into the album. When he announced this, he also stated that anyone who pledged a certain amount would be credited as an “Executive Producer” on this release, and sure enough, there’s a list of names who believed in this project.



I never should’ve doubted this given the time and effort Gira put in, and by the time this review comes out, I will have already see the group (which is happening September 30th), so you could ask me if it was worth it. I can say I’ll say yes.



OVERALL RATING – All the monster trucks in the world .

KEY TRACKS – “No Words/No Thoughts”, “My Birth”, “Inside Madeline”.