“Sure, that sounds good…” the caller agreed after I spoke briefly about The Seer, still sounding a little unsure. Or you could start somewhere else entirely Being a Swans fan, though, takes commitment no matter what, even it’s just to the abrasiveness of Gira’s voice and abstract quality of his lyrics. The main drawback in recommending The Seer to a potential new Swans fan is that it takes commitment to listen to the whole two-hour opus and absorb the varying facets of their sound. Then, there’s “The Wolf,” with Gira’s dark, baritone vocals front and center, reminding me of Swans’ folkier tendencies (which reappear in other moments on the album, like the conclusion to “A Piece of the Sky”). Next is “Mother of the World,” with the industrial grind of early Swans tempered to complement the sound of the first track. “Lunacy” is the sublime, recalling Soundtracks for the Blind and Jarboe’s vocal work on Children of God, as well as exemplifying the new Swans sound pioneered on My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky. First there’s “Lunacy,” huge and weighty with a distinctly post-rock feel, concluding with gorgeous vocal harmonies over the rush of ambient sound courtesy of Low’s Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker. With any band that has a difficult, complex, and rewarding back catalog, I tend to suggest that interested listeners start with the newest material first.Įven in the first three songs of The Seer, it’s possible to find sonic references to other moments in the Swans catalog. My honest recommendation was that he begin with The Seer. “I liked what you played from the new album,” he said, “But where do I start with Swans?” One person dialed in because I was gushing on air about The Seer, which had just been released.
When I was in college, I had a late night radio show on WTJU Charlottesville that attracted its fair share of callers, who were often genuinely interested in the music I was playing and wanted to talk to me about it.
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