(by Christien Lauro) Michael Gira’s monolithic band, Swans, inspired awe across many genres before officially disbanding in 1997 after nearly two decades of violent abusing of ear drums and expectations with the dissolution of his marriage to fellow Swans mainstay, Jarboe. The demise of Swans seemed to free Gira from audience and self-imposed constrictions and he went on to release several well received and uniformly excellent albums with new project, Angels of Light, as well as collaborations and solo efforts, all the while continuing to change, refine and experiment with his signature simultaneously brutal and beautiful brand sonic mayhem.
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| The Swans' My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky album artwork |
He seemed happy enough for the past decade to have removed that particular bird from around his neck, so, his return to the Swans with new album, My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky, on his own Young God Records as well as a supporting world tour might be viewed cynically as a money grab; critical acclaim and being name checked by more popular artists does not necessarily translate into paychecks – and let’s face it, everyone has bills to pay, especially new fathers. But it is hard to argue with Gira’s claim that the songs he had been writing since AOL’s absolutely brilliant last album, 2007’s We Are Him (itself containing the very Swansish tracks “Promise of Water” and “My Brother’s Man”), were closer to being Swans’ songs than AOL songs when you hear bombastic and beautiful album opener “No Words/No Thoughts”. It really does sound like a companion piece to the epic final Swans studio recording, 1996’s double album, Soundtracks For The Blind, and could easily stand alongside any of the later Swans material.
The return of original Swans secret weapon/lead guitarist, Norman Westberg certainly doesn’t hurt the proceedings either. All but one track previously appeared on the subscriber only, I Am Not Insane, a solo acoustic album that Gira released earlier this year to fund the recording sessions for My Father and Gira and his current collaborators have done a brilliant job of Swanifying much of the material, especially tracks like “No Words…”, “My Birth” and show stopping “Eden Prison” (a favorite of Gira’s recent solo live performances).
The one new track (the wonderfully titled), “You Fucking People Make Me Sick” is musically quite fitting but the thin guest vocals by former Gira protégé, Devendra Banhart, don’t do the track any favors, although Gira’s young daughter, Saoirese’s call and response vocals at the end brighten up the track considerably, brief as they are. The real disappointment here is the absence of, I Am Not Insane’s tantalizing “Opium Song” and “Oxygen”. Even in their solo acoustic versions, these songs seemed to lend themselves to inclusion on a Swans release, certainly more than some tracks that made the cut such as the slow, creepily lovey dovey album closer “Little Mouth” featuring Gira’s wife Siobhan Duffy’s (Gunga Din, God Is My Co-Pilot) pretty backing vocals. That’s not to say that a love song by Gira, even one as lascivious and sad as this, is not welcome, it just seems a bit misplaced and may have sounded better on an AOL or solo album. One could also question the decision to turn the incredible, “Reeling The Liars In” (another recent live favorite), into a countrified, Morriconesque hum-along instead of giving the mean-spirited lyrics a caustic more Swanlike backing track but, all things considered, it is good to have Swans back and it should prove a rapturous event to see them perform at NYC’s loudest venue, The Brooklyn Masonic Temple in October.
There is a limited edition, double cd version of My Father which is worth seeking out for fans and collectors. The second disk contains one, 46 minute track entitled, “Look At Me Go”, which consists of raw recordings from the album’s sessions lovingly mashed up in a computer and molded into an alternately somnambulantly droning and chillingly apocalyptic shifting soundscape reminiscent of the protracted experiments from Soundtracks For The Blind or Gira’s solo Body Lovers/Haters albums. Be warned: the last ten minutes of the disk should teach young noise bands a thing or two but will most likely give the average listener nightmares for years to come. Highly recommended!
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