Released
1998
Label
Young God/
Atavistic
Reviewed by
Michael C. Lund
Contact
Young God Records
P.O.Box 420232
Atlanta, GA 30342-0232
USA
Atavistic
P.O.Box 578266
Chicago, IL 60657
USA
Visit
Last Edit/Update
22 March, 1998
Swans
SWANS ARE DEAD
Track Listing
Black Disc
1. Feel Happiness
2. Low Life Form
3. Not Alone
4. Blood On Your Hands
5. Hypogirl
6. I Crawled
7. I Am The Sun
8. Blood Promise
White Disc
1. Final Sacrifice
2. The Sound
3. I See Them All Lined Up
4. Lavender
5. YR PRP
6. Yum Yab
7. Helpless Child
8. M/F
Swans
Are Dead transforms the lamentable end of this seminal band into a celebration. The
double-CD -- released on Gira's own Young God label -- contains
almost two and a half hours of music recorded during Swans' 1995 and 1997
tours. Thirty minutes of the material has never been released before, while the rest of
the tracks are greatly reworked live versions of songs covering most of Swans
history as a band. The two CDs come in a gorgeous tan and black digipak like the other
recent releases from Swans. On the front of the cover there is a black
circle with the word "dead" embossed in the center; on the back, the circle is
white, but otherwise of identical design. The CD containing the material from 1997 is
black, and the other, containing the 1995 concert, is white.
After Swans' 1997
performance at St. Andrew's Hall in Detroit, I briefly spoke with guitarist Clinton
Steele, who explained to me that the program of songs throughout the tour was the
same each night. However, the songs were open-ended, he said, accounting for the
variations in length of the shows from one venue to the next. The average length of Swans'
concerts on their final tour was about 80 minutes, with some shows running well over a
hundred minutes. The black CD of the set, featuring material from the 1997 tour recorded
at half a dozen different venues, runs about 72 minutes, and, as far as I can ascertain,
includes all the songs performed at the Chicago and Detroit shows, which I personally
witnessed.
Opening the CD is the epic song
"Feel Happiness," which was an original composition for the final tour. The
piece moves through a series of phases, moving seamlessly in and out of segments of string
and keyboard thematics, and passages of disparate percussions and guitar riffs. Towards
the end, all the instruments together build into an intense wall of sound, pierced by
soaring guitar melodics coursing off tangentially from the main movement of the piece. The
emotion that emerges out of the thick sonic fabric can be described only as the
"happiness" of the song title. These moments of elation eventually subside, the
song falls into a gentle strolling theme, and Michael Gira steps up to the
microphone to deliver a brief song that sounds like a parting hymn to a beloved child.
From the threshold at the very end of the song, the last thing heard is Gira
softly whistling the theme of the song -- sorrowfully, but with the memory of joy in each
tone that passes over his lips.
The following song -- "Low
Life Form" (originally released on Gira's solo album Drainland, 1995)
-- is the diametrical opposite of "Feel Happiness." The instrumentation feels
contorted, and Gira's vocals are anything but happy, featuring a number of
stomach turning images that bring to mind certain of the stories in Gira's book The
Consumer. "Low Life Form" gradually develops into a deafening maelstrom of
accelerating drums and guitar distortion, and then ends abruptly.
"Not Alone" is the other
original song on the Swans Are Dead, and like "Feel Happiness" it is
another very extended developmental piece. At first, Gira's vocals are of a
narrative quality, and the supporting music consists of synchronized staccato crashings of
drums and guitars. Later, this pattern develops into a more harmonious flow, and Gira
turns to singing. As on the first two tracks, the music develops into a thickly woven
carpet of sound -- bordering on the cacophonous -- towards the end. The outro of the piece
is a long, powerful drum solo, the performance of which drummer Phil Puleo --
after the show in Detroit -- described as a "therapeutical experience."
After "Not Alone," Michael
Gira introduces Jarboe, who sings the next three songs. As a brief reprieve
after the sonic bombardment of the first half of the CD, she performs "Blood On Your
Hands" accompanied only by a subtle background drone. The song, which first appeared
on the Skin album Blood, Women, Roses (1987), plays like a
mother's love song to her child, and the lyrics nicely complement Gira's vocals
on "Feel Happiness."
Heavy drum rolls and a strong
guitar theme introduce "Hypo Girl," on which Jarboe displays her
nastier side. It is a caustic love song with strong lyrical imagery that comes across as Jarboe's
answer to "Low Life Form." Like "Blood On Your Hands" this is a brief
piece, ending abruptly on the slam of a drum, and setting the scene for Jarboe's
extended re-invention of "I Crawled."
Originally included on one of the
earliest Swans releases (Young God, 1984), "I Crawled"
was a grinding track dominated by powerpercussions, guitar distortion, and Gira
on vocals. In this context, there are only slight hints left of the original song in the
guitar theme that underscores the song, and in the lyrics. Jarboe's performance
of the vocals has a sexually submissive quality to it, and at one point her voice sounds
as if she is undergoing a mental breakdown. Heavy drums kick in for the finale of the
song, with Jarboe erupting in a last sequence of vocals yelled out in a monstrous
voice.
Michael Gira returns on
vocals for the last two songs, both extensively reworked versions of tracks that
originally appeared on The Great Annihilator, 1994. The presentation of "I Am
The Sun" features virtuoso guitarmanship and accelerating drums, with an undertone of
rocker-billy that the album version certainly did not have.
The CD closes with another
impressive 15-minute track -- again a complete re-invention, this time of the song
"Blood Promise." Gira alternately narrates and sings his vocals, and,
as with "I Am The Sun," this piece also initially evokes the atmosphere of
50s/60s blues-folk. Later in the piece, the instrumentation builds up into an trancy
soundscape, stirring up a sensation of relief, after the melancholy beginning of the song.
The last segment of the song is a slow, lilting guitar theme that plays almost like an
elegy. An audience member is heard yelling "Don't stop!" However, all things
must eventually end, and with a humble "thank you," followed by a guttural
scream, Gira and the rest of Swans exit the stage.
For the lucky owners of Swans
Are Dead, this is not quite the end. The second (white) disc of the set contains a
recording of Swans' 1995 concert from Norway. While the structure, mood
and musical qualities of this recording are similar to those of the black disc, the songs
are all different.
Opening this CD is a new recording
of "Final Sacrifice," which originally appeared under the title "One Small
Sacrifice" on Skin's Shame, Humility, Revenge album from
1988. The piece has a slow-motion feel to it, with swaying bass chords, and occasional
waves of cymbals and chimes supporting Gira's world-weary vocals that build into
a tour-de-force series of violent outbursts. 'When I drink your blood, I will be like
you,' Gira sings, and "One Small Sacrifice" indeed sounds like Gira
walking his personal Calvary.
"The Sound" similarly
opens on a slow, moody note. Deep drum beats, bells and subdued, ringing guitars evoke a
melancholy atmosphere, with Gira's mesmerizing voice emerging out of 'the sound.'
The piece develops into a hurricane of racing, driving guitar riffs, and then finally, at
the end, returns to the subtle, chimy soundscape of the beginning.
The third song of the set --
"I See Them All Lined Up" -- is in the vein of Gira's narrational
pieces like "Failure." A fragile, melodic piano theme underscores Gira's
vocals, which are punctuated by spurts of heavy guitar riffs and crashing cymbal and drum
impacts.
Jarboe again takes over on
vocals for the next three songs. The first is a longer version of "Lavender
Girl" (from Jarboe's 1995 solo album Sacrificial Cake) simply
entitled "Lavender." It is a very pretty synth dominated piece, with Jarboe
singing at her silky finest.
The next song bears some
resemblance to "The Sound." "YR PRP" was originally released in
shorter form on Soundtracks For The Blind (1996), and here receives extended
treatment, ending in a strong segment of driving guitars and throbbing percussions.
"Yum Yab" is presented more or less the way it was originally recorded for Jarboe's
Sacrificial Cake album. The song is propelled forward by a march-like beat, and
fierce vocals.
The recording of "Helpless
Child," which follows, omits the chaotic introduction of church bells and distortion
that opened previous versions of the song. After a subtle introduction, Gira
performs his vocals, and the piece takes off on its neo-symphonic flight. A sweeping organ
theme carries the second half of this fantastic composition, with its soaring guitar
thematics and powerful percussion, ending in Gira desperately howling against the
sound structure that has been erected around him.
As a brief afterword, Jarboe
does a live rendition of the song "Mother/Father" from The Great Annihilator,
accompanied by exotic congas and whimsical background keyboard harmonies.
The experience of listening to Swans'
music is as always both inspiring and overwhelming. Swans Are Dead is a set of CDs
best listened to in two separate sittings. It is as if Swans' concerts
were structured in order to reach a cathartic climax. The music is often dark, even
oppressive in mood, yet, few bands leave the listener elated and in a state of mind, as if
at the end of a voyage, the destination of which has been successfully reached. The
specific beauty of Swans Are Dead is that it serves equally well as an introduction
to Swans, and as an epitaph to their long and brilliant career.
