Swans

Swans is one of the most important and influential groups on the American experimental scene. Since the album Filth in 1983, the band has gone through three decades without ever deviating from their course, that of singular and uncompromising music. Swans is Michael Gira, Michael Gira is Swans. It is the only permanent member of the group since its beginnings. The band, originally from New York, has tried many genres. First this mix of Rock Industrial and Noise Rock that characterized Swans' early music with albums like Filth (1983) Cop 1984) Greed (1985) or Holy Money (1986). Children of God (1987) marks a new turning point in combo music, more oriented Post-Punk or Gothic but always with an experimental orientation. This movement will continue until 1995 with what is certainly their most accessible album: The Great Annihilator . The shock is brutal with Soundtrack For The Blind (1996) which shows Swans in a new light, with a Post-Rock sound going to even look for the Drone or Dark Ambient. This mastodon of more than two hours and twenty had to be the last. Indeed, it was in 1997 that Michael Gira decided to end the group, wanting to focus more on his other projects. After thirteen years of silence, Swans returned from his ashes with the album My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky in 2010. Quite impregnated with Gira's solo work, this unexpected return lays the foundations of a new era. Two years later, The Seer takes everyone short, triggering his fury over more than two hours and considered by many critics as the album of the year 2012. On this album we find some similarities with Soundtrack For The Blind , the length first , which approaches the two hours, the concept of double album then as well as a wild radicality in the sound. Two years later, To Be Kind confirmed this new momentum. Taking The Seer where he stopped, this new album is a synthesis of the band's career, between Air Post-Rock, industrial riffs based on repetition and always a permanent experiment.
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