They can be distant I guess. I don't think so.
It depends on the era of Swans.
ERA 1
Filth (1983)
Cop (1984)
Greed (1986)
One new (huge) wrinkle was adding female singer, keyboardist, songwriter Jarboe who has a beautiful and creepy voice that reminds me of Diamanda Galas crossed with Elizabeth Fraser!
Holy Money (1986)
This era is Straight up, intense industrial stuff. Angry young man stuff with low production values but very important in the whole pantheon of American Industrial.
ERA 1.5
Children of God (1987)
Is a masterpiece that bridged the gap between their sonic hammer sound and crushingly beautiful melodies.
(All while exploring religion under the influence of Hallucinagens! Were they serious, or not? Good question)
This album (2 LP set) is a long a hypnotic trip like no other. I played this until the wheels fell off, when I was in High School. Important and great album.
ERA 2
The Burning World (1989)
Is their one bid for respectability in the 'normal' music world. They were signed to Uni (Universal) Records and assigned a professional producer in the great Bill Laswell. It is their most straightforward album that could be called "conventional", with its acoustic-based traditional song structures.
It is also a beautiful a wonderful album. Listen to the last song "God damn The Sun" about a friend of Gira's that died in Paris. Amazing. But the most amazing thing about Gira's work is how he works the opposing forces of gorgeous melodies with heart crushing lyrics.
White Light from the Mouth of Infinity (1991)
Love of Life (1992)
The Great Annihilator (1995)
The Bunny Trilogy. These are great albums. They are just some of the best songwriting ever. A must.
The beautiful melodies with tragic lyrics continues, and the scale of the sonic production is just epic. The album was recorded at
Edibles Archives These three albums feel like three parts of a sprawling novel.
Soundtracks for the Blind (1996)
The last of this era. They close out strong. This is the last iteration of this lineup. They will not regroup for 14 years.
ERA 3
My Father Will Guide Me up a Rope to the Sky (2010)
Fourteen years later. This is a bridge between the work on the last Swans album, Gira's Angels of Light side project, and the more tribal sensibilities of earlier Swans work. A mishmash of Former Swans members.
ERA 3.5
The Seer (2012)
The return of Jarboe as a member. And Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs Adds to the mix. This is a EPIC wailing wall of long dirges. A sonic blast to the senses. This is one crazy ass journey to the dark. No other album like it.
ERA 4
To Be Kind (2014) - St. vincent guests on this one
The Glowing Man (2016)
Another step. Still the hypnotic Gira formula - but this time different again. Someone called it "like a Mix of Captain Beefheart and Einstürzende Neubauten". Like the previous albums, these are EPICS. You don't listen to one song.
You take the
whole journey, or you don't!
As you can see I am a lifelong Swans (and Michael Gira) fan.
(check out his ANGELS OF LIGHT albums too).
I would say that the easiest way to sort of wade into the Swans is to start with the Era 2 "Bunny" albums. That way you can get an idea of what Gira is all about without getting punched in the face by The Seer or the early stuff!!
(By the way, I am a lifelong Neubauten fan too, and I liked your little E.N. tag you had there for a while!
)
. I'll give them another go. and start with Era 2 albums. again, thank you !
