Origin of the species: The discography of SWANS can be divided into two sections: the first, expressing the intense depths of ugliness; the second, creating beauty out of those same depths. The slow, pounding noise rock of their early years is designed to bludgeon the listener senseless, and from 1983 to 1986 there was arguably no heavier band. Deciding not to become the AC/DC of aural nihilism and fathomless sludge, SWANS began to expand their sound, exploring mellower but no less harrowing emotional depths with increasing contributions from Jarboe, the groups in-house SIOUXSIE. 1987's "Children of God" marked a clear turning point in their sound. The funereal depth of singer-lyricist Michael Gira's intonation would be well-matched by the dual female element, while dark folk songs and ballads packed just as much power as the group's exercises in rhythmic pounding. Sonic depth would be increased through the incorporation of piano, acoustic passages, strings, orchestral arrangements, keyboards and tape loops, increasingly approaching the religious dimension, seeking transcendence through visionary explorations of the terrifying and the profound.

The basis of spiritual alchemy is the principle of "As Above, So Below." In other words, our lives are microcosms of the universe, our actions reflections of the stars: if you understand yourself, from your depths to your heights, you understand existence. No other musical act could evoke this tenet of mysticism like SWANS. Another common thread throughout esoteric forms of mysticism is the urge to transcend dichotomies, among them the dichotomy between male and female. This forms the justification for the Buddhist practice of tantric sex and, in practice if not intent, the sharing of vocals between Gira and Jarboe. To rise above dualism is to touch the floor of heaven, to achieve a taste of the bliss that can justify the foulest depths of desperation. The male and female psyches unite in the infinite, a cosmic orgasm of unspeakable beauty and violence. This is what SWANS are getting at with album titles like "White Light from the Mouth of Infinity" and "The Great Annihilator."

This is not music for casual listening, but when the mood and stars align, there are few acts in the history of rock as cathartic as SWANS. The band disbanded in 1997, but Gira continues to pursue his folk inclinations with the frequently beautiful ANGELS OF LIGHT project. Fans of NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS, JOY DIVISION, E.M. Cioran, GODFLESH, Ingmar Bergman, STEVE WINWOOD (well, they covered him), CURRENT 93, William Blake, PINK FLOYD's "The Wall," Louis-Ferdinand Céline and NEUROSIS should find in SWANS a warmly oppressive embrace.

What follows is not a comprehensive discography. SWANS have far too many compilations, side projects, singles, and collaborations to list them all here, but most of the major releases are covered. For a full listing, visit the SWANS discography pages at their official site (the link is at the bottom of this page).

SWANS - "SWANS" EP, 1982 - The slow and gloomy noise rock that would become the band's trademark remains in an embryonic state for this first release. While Michael Gira's lyrical ugliness seems intact, songs like "Sensitive Skin" and "Take Advantage" sound more like New York’s answer to JOY DIVISION. It wasn’t until their first full-length “Filth” (released a year later) that we would hear the depressing doom noise for which they would become(in)famous. Still, there's some very interesting and catchy songs presented here with a flair for grand pageantry of presentation that would continue to grow throughout the decade.

SWANS - "Filth", 1983 - Musique concrete if your natural environment is an abandoned scrap yard in a questionable part of town, home to a more than a few bodies and operated by the deranged. One of the most interesting offshoots of the "no wave" scene in NY and an influential set of music on 99.9% of today's extreme bands. They morphed and changed through the years, but this right here is the primordial ooze. It is the gunk that builds up in the gears of the human machine vomited forth in agonizing movements that match the sounds of an air press in any self respecting factory. A death march in slow motion. Sturm und drang. This collection is a body found in a trunk down

at the docks that has been mercilessly knifed and burned beyond recognition and the mind that made it happen. If that scares you it's meant to. This is not pleasant music.

SWANS - "Cop", 1984 / "Young God", 1984 - With the lineup trimmed down from five to four members, SWANS streamlined their sound to a degree. If the brutal pounding of "Filth" was too much for you, then there’s not much hope that “Cop” or “Young God” will brighten your day. Somehow these recordings are not quite as crushing or jarring as the "Filth" album, yet at the same time the compositions come off very explosive and exceedingly opaque. With the second drummer of “Filth” gone and Michael Gira no longer playing bass, this third lineup focuses around the guitar/bass/drum dichotomy. Vocally, the lyrics are moaned as opposed to yelled, yet the group remains as commercially

inaccessible as ever. With Norman Westberg’s dense, distortion-saturated guitar and Harry Crosby’s burly overdriven bass, it’s not hard to imagine this ensemble working at deafening volume levels. The drums keep time in unusual ways, Roli Mosimann’s slow tempos allowing the drums to add different textures, often including much more tom work than other heavy bands of the time period. Unfortunately, the drum mix does give the music a somewhat dated feel. “Half Life” opens "Cop" with a bombast that is hard to put into words. The drums are absent for the first minute of “Job” - “Cut off the arms. Cut off the legs. Cut off the head . Get rid of the body. Puss. Poison. Blood. Shit” is the sentiment here. With titles like “Thug”, “Butcher” and “Raping A Slave”, it’s obvious that these two discs wallow in depravity. “Clay Man” starts off in a similar fashion, however the last minute finds metal percussion looping in with bass and guitar. “I Crawled” starts "Young God" off slow, and 4 minutes into it the track speeds up in the most harried way. This is music that sounds as if the world is about to end. Early SWANS is uneasy listening at its most uneasy and about as subtle as an axe blow to the cranium.

SWANS - "Greed", 1985 - The band's third full-length is a landmark for two big reasons. One, Michael Gira has traded in the majority of the growling from the band's earliest work for a low-end singing style that is equal parts cold, distant and desperate. Naturally, this works wonders for a self-loathing song like "Nobody", although there are traces of that initial aggression with the climax of "Heaven". The second, (and most important) thing that sets this album apart is the fact that it's the first SWANS album graced with the voice and keys of one Jarboe. She doesn't get lead vocal time yet, but her haunting background vocals on "Nobody" and the title cut have tremendous impact, as do her

piano playing on "Fool" and her synth brass punches in "Money is Flesh". These two elements combine to form a sound that's just as hypnotic and nihilistic as SWANS' previous efforts, but with a new sense of accessibility that would only increase with the band's progression.

SWANS - "Holy Money", 1986 - Gira dares to tinker further with a winning formula for "Holy Money", a companion disc of-sorts for the "Greed" album. Jarboe's contributions continue to solidify, taking the lead vocal in the dismal "You Need Me". Otherwise, it's ten tracks of the thundering, despair-soaked minimalism that had become Gira's mid-80s calling card. These early studio tracks lack the bloodthirsty depth of their live counterparts, but the reverb-soaked anguish of "A Screw" is worth the price of admission alone.

SWANS - "Public Castration is a Good Idea", 1986 - Clang! Clang! Thud! Clang! This bizarre live "numbered official bootleg" from the band's "Greed" and "Holy Money" period labors over 70 minutes, each drum beat an attempt to take the listener out, leaving him marred and repentant for ever coming to this auditory table of horrors. Battering rams like "A Screw" and "Stupid Child" raze and molest anything in their path, Gira's bellows staggering like a wounded animal, thunderously repeating the same foul syllables ad infinitum. Calling this atomic roar a 'bootleg' seems a crime - every ugly, hazy, emission is delivered with remarkable directness. Difficult to find as it is, this album knows no equal

in terms of ruthless sonic brutality.

SWANS - "Children of God", 1987 - Band members might come and go, and the sound might shift in different directions, but the darkness and the drama of the SWANS will always be potent enough to launch three new "Crow" movie trilogies. 1987's epic "Children of God" finds the band dabbling in religious symbolism, as well as expanding the role of keyboardist/singer Jarboe. Sonically, "Children of God" is definitely a product of it's time. The new wave element of the band is really pronounced, giving it a dated "CURE on downers" feel throughout most of the disc. The best songs really use the creepy trance/drone feel to put the listeners in the zone, like in "Our Love Lies," and

"In My Garden" being prime examples. There's also plenty of diversity here, as the industrial "Beautiful Child" comes on like a freight train compared to many of the other quiet meditations included here. The title track gives an (almost) uplifting end to the album, as Jarboe's layered vocals and the gated snare drum of PRONG drummer Ted Parsons show the band at its most driving. Some of the angst on this record has"high school poetry" written on it, but given the band's overall body of work, it is 100% sincere.

SWANS - "Love Will Tear Us Apart" EP, 1988 - Issued in a staggering array of slightly different vinyl packages (now all impossible to find), this strange acoustic EP marked quite a departure from their previous megaliths. Gira's take on the above-mentioned JOY DIVISION song is simultaneously poppy and downbeat, initiating little more than a newfound appreciation for the original JD version. Jarboe's version is more creative, adorned with soaring angelic choruses set against simple acoustic guitar garnished with synths. The additional acoustic-based tracks are not worth the price of admission, Gira sounding like Johnny Cash immersed in Robitussin playing JESUS AND MARY CHAIN covers

for most of the proceedings. Some of these tracks appear on later compilations like 1999's "Various Failures", but we're really not sure why.

SWANS - "Feel Good Now", 1988 - Don't be swayed by the title - this is one of the least feel-good recordings ever made. One of many live SWANS albums, this one was recorded during the band's European tour following the "Children of God" album, and contains ONLY songs from that album. So how does one justify picking up what's essentially a live version of a pre-existing studio album? For the same reason why more people rave about "Alive!" than the first three KISS studio offerings, some music was just meant to be savored in the balls-out and unpredictable live setting. Take, for instance, "Blind Love", where a primarily acoustic song gets drenched in feedback and becomes

a near-20 minute hell ride. Given how deeply personal the subject matter is on the "Children of God" material, hearing Gira scream unintelligibly in a near-trance state conveys that message all the more effectively. Jarboe's vocal style benefits here too, especially while going slightly off-key and giving the songs a profound sense of vulnerability. And what could be better than how the two of them interact on "Children of God" and "Sex, God, Sex"? All in all, this is a tremendous showcase of a band at the top of their game, and for first-timers, this is a great place to start.

SWANS - "The Burning World", 1989 - In another classic example of why truth is stranger than fiction, the next SWANS full-length after the brilliantly twisted "Feel Good Now" would be… a pop record on a major label? Well, that's exactly what happened. At their new label's insistence, they teamed up with noted musician/producer Bill Laswell, and with his influence made an album that plants itself firmly in the "would have been better had somebody else made it" category. Gone are the hypnotic riff repetition and foreboding aura, in favor of a rigid verse-chorus-verse-chorus formula and almost exclusively acoustic sound. Jarboe's vocals do a fair job at making this transition,

and easily the album highlight is her tragic rendition of BLIND FAITH classic "Can't Find My Way Home". Gira's vocals, on the other hand, sound unconvincing at best and downright cheesy at worst, which is quite unfortunate for songs with such personal lyrics as "God Damn the Sun" and "The River that Runs with Love Won't Run Dry". To be fair, some of the multicultural elements like the plinking in "Let It Come Down" are interesting, but knowledge of this band's staggering capabilities makes it a very difficult album to appreciate. Simply put, "The Burning World" is not a good representation of what SWANS is about, and would leave them with quite a bit of ground to make up. And make it up they would in short order.

SWANS - "White Light From the Mouth of Infinity", 1991 - "White Light from the Mouth of Infinity" begins with the squeals of a child, before opener "Better Than You" launches into a mighty distillation of what SWANS specialize in: majestic eruptions of sweeping psychodrama, incorporating pounding percussion, orchestral flourishes and eerie acoustic passages. Calling the mouth "the wound that is made where the past meets the future," Gira gets to the heart of the album's transcendent title: love, death, hurt and the eternal are inseparable, impossible without each other, every kiss a taste of the abyss. Lyrically throughout, Gira is able to brilliantly fuse the personal and the political,

evoking the terrible drama of human history with jarring lines like: "I feel power, buried in the ground where twenty million died like heroes, stealing this same power that I'm feeling." Yet if feelings of personal megalomania are linked with the horrors of genocide, SWANS are equally capable of linking feelings of personal love with religious revelation, as in the gently beautiful "You Know Nothing." The dirge of quiet desperation that is "Failure" contains quite possibly the most depressive lyrics of any song ever recorded, rivaling the depths of JOY DIVISION's "Closer." There may not exist a more fatalistic couplet than "Some people lie in hell, many bastards succeed - but I, I've learned nothing, I can't even elegantly bleed." The sheer misery of it all almost crosses over into humor, but any grin must be an uneasy one. Lest the listener consider suicide, SWANS follow "Failure" with the almost joyous "Song for the Sun," a song that confirms that true romanticism is only possible in the shadow of a darkness. SWANS unflinchingly explore the ugly realities of human nature, but they are also capable of recognizing the possibilities of its beauty, and this cosmically multi-dimensional perspective is central to their greatness.

SWANS - "Love of Life", 1992 - After the disappointing major label compromise “The Burning World” the SWANS returned with a vengeance for 1991’s amazing “White Light From The Mouth Of Infinity”. Incredibly, 1992 "Love of Life" manages to top it. The songs are all tied together by short instrumental bits, interview fragments, sound bites and whatnot, making this one of those records (like ZAPPA’s “We’re Only In It For The Money” and CORNELIUS’ “Fantasma”) that you have to listen to in one sitting - and it works too. Pretty amazing when you consider that some of their earlier works were so bleak and off-putting, sometimes small doses were required. Not so here - the music is still far from

"happy" of course, but instead of just smearing our faces in doom and gloom the SWANS now manage to reach for the heart as well. On the gentler acoustic moments Michael Gira even sounds like (gasp!) LEONARD COHEN (or at least his evil cousin). And we haven’t even mentioned Jarboe yet. Just try not to be swept away when she takes center stage in songs like “The Other Side Of The World”. Like minded artists such as KILLING JOKE and SISTERS OF MERCY have tried things like this too, but their attempts don’t even come close to the level of artistry that is reached here. Simply put, "Love of Life" is brilliant.

SWANS - "Omniscience", 1992 - "Omniscience" is a live record, but more than that its an exercise in atmosphere. It is full of space, extended instrumental passages, otherworldly voices and enough rhythmic intensity to conjure demons. The emphasis on mood more than song, so that the recorded show feels less like the unfolding of a set list than the unfolding of a tempest. One gets the feeling that, performing live, SWANS aspired more to religious transcendence than rock n' roll greatness. Though of course, for the greatest artists, these positions must not necessarily be mutually exclusive. Jarboe sings lead on the mostly instrumental "Mother's Milk," and "Power R Sac" continues as

an extended triumphal prelude to the storm. A burst of light glimmers through on "Will Serve," which continues the instrumental bombast before giving away to the meditative beauty of "Her." Here the voice of Gira is finally introduced before disappearing into a torrent of rhythmic bashing. The clamor ends in the sounds of a distant radio and a girl's voice discussing her familial and relationship issues. The first conventionally structured song to appear is the Nick Drake cover "Black Eyed Dog," but Jarboe sings like a maniacal banshee to keep things firmly on the uneasy listening tip. The rattling percussion on "Amnesia" adds to the seductive menace, a mood SWANS are masters of. The build-up of the first six tracks only heightens the performance of what is surely one of SWANS' pivotal statements, the awe-inspiring Darwinian epic that is "Love of Life." It gets an extended treatment here, rattling forward as if rushing for a showdown with the gods before breaking against the weight of its own momentum. That coda gives way to a sampled voice and minimalist instrumentation on an untitled track, and the Jarboe-song ballad "The Other Side of the World." "Rutting" is another mood-invoking segue into "God Loves America," which is, not surprisingly, meant ironically. SWANS' answer to NEIL YOUNG'S "Cortez the Killer," this penultimate track begins with a quiet, pretty reading before ending with a resounding coda. "Omnipotence" is a slowly pounding instrumental, returning the listener to the void he or she started from.

SWANS - "The Great Annihilator", 1995 - Nearing the end of the line, the band releases what is undoubtedly one of their most "listenable" discs. The heavy middle eastern drone influence on some of the tracks lends weight to what would be just typical teutonic amphetamine dance music of that period. For example, take the slight drone influence out of "I Am The Sun" and you have atypical industrial of the day. This sophistication takes what would be bland in someone else's hands and makes it palatable. The troubled troubadour tones of "She Lives!" also lend another level of sophistication to this effort. "The Great Annihilator" is not exactly their best, but a solid release. Maybe it's

that "industrial" drum sound that's pulling them down here. You know, the post-Euro disco MINISTRY drums that don't sound totally real. Yep - that's probably it.

SWANS - "Soundtracks For The Blind", 1996 - The final studio release consists of 26 tracks over two discs. It's a mishmash of what you expect, done as some sort of a soundtrack to an imagined film. The album is bloated in some of it's sweep (the exercise in overwrought build that is "The Sound") but a stellar collection nonetheless. Gira and crew are one of the few bands to grasp how to play what should be quiet music in a way that levels you against a wall and keeps pushing you past it to the point of discomfort at some points. There is so much beauty in the ugly, you can enjoy the beating even when it's done with very soft repetitive blows. Tiny hands pushing you along and hitting you softly across a stark and ugly canvas.

Even in the ugly moments like "All Lined Up" (one of the most out of place points on the collection of songs) it's pleasurable and a fine, mature way to face up to all the darkness they flirted with and give it one last glance-over to make sure it's there to stay. After all, you can't undo ugly can you?

SWANS - "Die Tür ist Zu", 1996 - As if there was any doubt before, the SWANS prove that they were ahead of their time once again with "Die Tür ist Zu". It becomes clear from the 20+ minute opening monolith "Ligeti's Breath/Hiliflos Kind" where groups like SUNNO))) and OCEAN lifted some of their ideas. This track builds and builds, using feedback and ambient noise to create an inescapable tidal wave of melancholia. This song is not the standout, however, as the oppressive mood of the music persists throughout the album's varied tracks. The group might go industrial with "Ich Sehe Die Alle In Einer Reihe," or become more pastoral with "You Know Everything (Reprise)". The audio samples

of children and comparatively bombastic moments make it one of the album's most haunting compositions. While it could be argued that the prolonged Yoko Ono-ish warbling of singer Jarboe on "M/F" contributes to the oppressive mood of the album, the results could be off-putting for some. Still, the fact remains that the SWANS created an album that sounds as fresh and vital today as it did back in '96.

SWANS - "Swans Are Dead", 1998 - As the the compact disc developed into the primary medium for new music buyers, some artists had trouble adapting to the 70-80 minute format, indulging themselves by adding 20-30 minutes of fluff simply because they could. Amazingly, Gira and company find a way to unleash a monstrous Swan song (sorry) live performance that never loses momentum or intensity over the space of two full CDs. While previous SWANS live albums were usually focused on one or two recent releases, this one finds them pulling material from all directions, including gripping new interpretations of early tracks like "I Crawled" and "Blood Promise". Sonic bruisers like

"Not Alone" and "I See Them All Lined Up" incorporate all the repetitive, sweeping, crashing aggression of their early 80s material, but push beyond the bare-lightbulb approach and into new territory. Jarboe's contributions and vocal gymnastics reach orchestral proportions in "Lavender" and "Yr Prp", and would be an excellent SWANS starting point for fans of pompier stuff like THE GATHERING or TRISTANIA. It's an elephant of an album, but very much an essential purchase.

Final thoughts: Like any other band, SWANS certainly had ups and downs. But the streak of quality that runs through most of these releases is truly remarkable. Due to small labels and small pressings, many of these titles are difficult to find or somewhat expensive, but as most of the glowing reviews above indicate, SWANS are worth some extra effort. Be sure to check out Gira and Jarboe's numerous side projects and post-SWANS projects as well. Interestingly, if you compare the reviews and numbers to the scores in our "Mainstream Strikes Back" feature a few months ago, it would appear that the 'timeless' critical darling albums can't hold a candle to the power of SWANS

(not around these parts, anyway). Go forth and buy, dear readers.

-Peacedogman Staff

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