Just finished the new SWANS documentary, so I am glowing with renewed motivation and relative fearlessness! SWANS being reinvigorated was easily the most inspiring musical happening of the last decade for me. As such, missing them because of COVID was among the more bitter aspects of the pandemic’s effects.
I first heard of Swans via The Great Annihilator (I don’t think that album existed in the documentary for some reason), and to be honest, at age 19 or so, I didn’t care for it. Then, maybe a year later, I heard PUBLIC CASTRATION IS A GOOD IDEA, and that record blew me away. Mind you, I often hate live albums, but this very rare exception still stands as one of the most visceral and intuitive musical recordings that I know of.
Eventually, I picked through everything chronologically, and the whole catalog feels like a slow-burning, epic masterpiece. I have never seen a more commanding, enveloping band live. To have seen SWANS (4 times altogether) and their trance-inducing, cathartic, maximalist, and mean live performances, whilst studying hypnosis, was a magical coincidence. Although Gira has denied spirituality in the past, to some degree, it was refreshing to see some alignment divulged during interview snippets from the documentary.
Absolute shame that I was completely unaware of them/too young during their first wave.