Swans - "My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky"

The venerable Michael Gira, the man behind the once-defunct Swans, Angels of Light, and Young God Records has decided to resurrect Swans with a cast of talented and seasoned musical comrades for an album and tour. Producing a new Swans album has to be a daunting prospect: expectations are high, partly due to the band’s long absence as a recording concern (the last studio album was 1996’s sprawling double CD Soundtracks for the Blind) and partly due to the fact that Swans can truly be considered a seminal group, influencing such disparate genres as industrial, goth, post-rock, noise rock, power electronics and metal. Basically, anything short of excellence would equate to failure. However, "My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky is a powerful, nuanced, cohesive, forward-thinking album that while nodding to Swans’ brute, confrontational past also incorporates the more traditional palette of sounds used by late-period Swans and Angels of Light.

1. No Words/No Thoughts (9:24) - The track opens with 0:42 of lovely bells giving way to heaving, dissonant, percussive drones that will have fans of early Swans work rejoicing. However, the sound is more organic than early Swans, or that of most modern practitioners of aggressive, epic music. The bass is warm, the guitars not massively distorted or “metal” sounding, the tones more those of vintage amps at high volume. There are a striking number of traditional-sounding, non-rock elements to this sound (see the listing at the end of this review of who played what) that make it seem timeless, yet do not detract from its imposing ferocity. The intense sections sound more unsettling because of their sonic deviation from the all-too-familiar metallic/harsh noise construct many bands fall back on to inspire dread. The lyrics are less confrontational than those penned by Gira early in his career, placing him in the light of a spiritual truth seeker or wizened shaman, singing in his distinctive baritone lines like “long may he live/long may his children drift in the wind/to think is a sin/long may his world never begin.”

2. Reeling The Liars In (2:20) - In contrast to 'No Words/No Thoughts', this could very well be an Angels of Light song. It's brief and doesn't morph into anything other than a dark Americana-influenced folk/country song. There are mandolins and Morricone-western guitar sounds. The subject matter keeps the song in a severe mood. 'Reeling The Liars In' is about placing the world's liars in a pile and setting them alight, bringing to mind images of a pastoral apocalyptic sect carrying out their idea of the Lord’s will.

3. Jim (6:46) - 'Jim' begins with an ambling bass vamp and builds to a boozy, feverish intensity. There is a Western feel bringing to mind visions of a doomed horseback ride in a Blood Meridian-like setting where if the elements don't get you the inhabitants surely will. With backing vocals sounding like a chain-gang lament and lyrics like "ride your mechanical beast to heaven," I envision this as a warning from a rural, ascetic holy man to all of us sinners enraptured with technology but neglectful of our souls. The guitar work of Norman Westberg and Gira on this track (and throughout the album) is striking in its dynamics, ranging from pastoral chiming to fierce squalls.

4. My Birth (3:52) - Jittery piano notes are quickly overtaken by noisy muscular waves bludgeoning the listener over and over, each blow a little more violent than the last. Gira’s vocals sound urgent, slurred and powerful, much less solemn than on the other tracks. I can’t help but think of Stooges-era Iggy Pop. Chris Pravdica’s bass throbs are heaving like a dinosaur trying to escape a tarpit by song’s end. I can imagine the brevity of this track being abandoned during live performances.

5. You Fucking People Make Me Sick (5:08) - This song is not the early Swans style aural skullfuck that the title would suggest, but rather a creepy exercise in dynamics. Devendra Banhart and Gira's young daughter lend their unique voices to a pretty melody, the child sweetly and earnestly singing lines like "I love you, I need you, oh show me, how to shine." But then the temperature in the room drops when Banhart sorrowfully intones "so give me, what is mine" immediately followed by noises that sound like they were produced using a grand piano and a jackhammer and bleating dissonant horns.

6. Inside Madeline (6:37) - A long simmering build with intertwining guitar parts that strike me as a cross between the dual guitar constructions of Television and Drive Like Jehu. Propelled, like most of the album, by the massive percussion of Thor Harris and Chris Puleo, after the build the song evaporates into sparse, intimate crooning by Gira.

7. Eden Prison (6:03) - Along with the opening track, 'Eden Prison' is the most representative track of the 2010 manifestation of Swans. It blends the Angels of Light influences with the hammering repetition of Swans of yore. It's a very effective formula. The heavy, violent section is stunning: they use the organic but fearsome sounds I've already referenced to dramatic effect. The only thing I can compare it to is Neurosis' mighty 'End of the Harvest' -- it's that heavy, repetitive, cacophonous and simply stunning. The lyrics suggest what may be the opposite of liberation theology.

8. Little Mouth (4:12) - I don’t want to give short shrift to this song. Suffice it to say that the skewed balladry of 'Little Mouth' is a dramatic departure from the sound-typhoon of 'Eden Prison' and an appropriate, effective closer for this emotional ride. The album that opened with bells closes with Gira’s resonant, world-weary voice a cappella. I won’t attempt to directly interpret the lyrics, but the tone seems to be one of penitence and reluctant acceptance.

This is a Swans album that could only have been birthed after Gira's years of putting his formidable stamp on folk/dark Americana in Angels of Light. Swans circa 2010 are also a different beast in that Gira's lyrics have retained some of the finesse required by the Angels of Light medium as compared to the peerless nihilism of early Swans. This should not be misconstrued as saying that this is a de facto Angels of Light record or that Gira is going softly into the night: this is an emotionally demanding beast of a record, best listened to in solitude and with full attention. The lyrical subject matter is about as heavy as it gets, addressing literary-scope themes like the tyranny of time and nature, love and hate, birth and death, and the confused, violent, corruptible nature of humanity. Gira stated when he announced this album was in the works: “THIS IS NOT A REUNION. It’s not some dumb-ass nostalgia act. It is not repeating the past.” He was not blowing smoke, My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky shows Swans/Gira moving forward in the year of our lord 2010 with fearsome grace.

Who Played What:

Swans:

Michael Gira – electric guitar, vocals, electric 12-string guitar, sounds, acoustic guitar, production
Christoph Hahn – electric guitar, mouth harp on "You Fucking People Make Me Sick"
Thor Harris – drums, percussion, vibes, dulcimer, curios, keyboards
Chris Pravdica – bass guitar
Phil Puleo – drums, percussion, dulcimer
Norman Westberg – electric guitar, e-bow on "Inside Madeline"

Additional musicians:

Devendra Banhart – vocals on "You Fucking People Make Me Sick"
Brian Carpenter – trumpet, slide trumpet
Saoirse Gira – vocals on "You Fucking People Make Me Sick"
Grasshopper – mandolin
Bill Rieflin – drums, piano, 12 string acoustic guitar, electric guitar, synthesizer, organ