home > browse > cd-feature > view article

Swan: My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky

  Tobias Fischer

You know – or should know – Swans, the legendary no-wave drone act whose revolving-door members have been involved in the most vituperative deconstructionist projects in rock history, including of course this band itself. Band boss Michael Gira has resurrected Swans ostensibly to depart from his current outlet, Angels of Light, whose sound is in general so much like this that I’m left with little doubt this reunion was more a business decision than any throwdown against Angels.

Consider also that he runs Young God Records, and that the music biz is as screwed as any other racket out there, and well, do the math. That’s not to infer that there’s anything wrong here; the signal-to-noise leads me to state without reservation that I wouldn’t care if Gira were going to toss all this album’s proceeds at the “Sarah Palin For Fascist Demagogue 2012” campaign. There are some repetitive industrial beatings that are so devastating as to be beyond horror-soundtrack – “You F—king People Make Me Sick” is a cruel, delicious assault – and Gira’s voice is as Iggy-as-reasoned-social-critic as ever.

Not for the faint of heart, but definitely for everyone else.

By Eric Saeger

Homepage: Swans
Homepage: Young God Records