Photograph: Lino Brunetti
For at least the past several years, Michael Gira, the singer, songwriter, guitarist and bandleader behind the exquisite agonies of Swans, has been issuing a steady trickle of exclusive, limited-edition projects through the website of his label, Young God Records. Packaged with paper covers in plastic sleeves, these hand-numbered, signed and otherwise customized albums have featured original graphic art by Gira.
Several of these projects have provided illuminating snapshots of work in progress, audio verité recordings featuring Gira alone with an acoustic guitar and a microphone. That was mostly the case with I Am Not Insane, a CD/DVD package produced last year in a limited edition of 1000 copies to raise funds for the recording of the latest Swans album, My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky.
But in a departure, Young God's latest exclusive is a two-disc live set recorded during the current Swans tour. (Or maybe it's a web-exclusive edition of a live set planned for general release; it's a little hard to tell so far.) Titled We Rose from Your Bed with the Sun in Our Head, the set is another fundraiser: this one to pay for the next Swans studio release, said to be in advanced stages of preparation already.
I can't speak to the packaging, but the recording is gorgeous, capturing the current band—which just played at the Music Hall of Williamsburg last week and at ATP's I'll Be Your Mirror fest in Asbury Park over the weekend (reviewed by Ben Ratliff in The New York Times)—in all its desolate rage and glory.
Details of the album's release date, price, provenence and edition size have not yet been announced; to find out, sign up for the Young God mailing list via the label site. Here's a tracklist:
CD 1
No Words/No Thoughts
Jim
Beautiful Child
The Apostate
Your Property
Sex God Sex
CD 2
I Crawled
Eden Prison
93 Ave B Blues/Little Mouth
Four of those songs ("No Words/No Thoughts," "Jim," "Eden Prison" and "Little Mouth") are from My Father. Two more ("Beautiful Child" and "Sex God Sex") are from the band's 1987 epic, Children of God. "Your Property" dates back to 1984's lacerating Cop. Among the two new titles, "93 Ave B Blues" is a lurching, squalling instrumental maelstrom prefacing "Little Mouth."
Then there's "The Apostate," a grim, sordid epic slated for the next album; here, it clocks in just shy of 17 minutes. The entire set is crucial listening for any Swans admirer, but this track alone makes purchase mandatory. Here's a May performance of "The Apostate" filmed in Malmö, Sweden, in two parts:
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