In preparation for the new Swans album, and to help finance it, Michael Gira recently released this collection of demos, titled What is This? He has released fundraising albums for the last four Swans studio albums, as well as a collection of acoustic cuts, I am Not This, and the live album Deliquesence, which I'm sure helped cover the cost of reissuing and remastering the gargantuan Soundtracks for the Blind on vinyl. Going into it, having purchased the last few fundraiser albums, I had a pretty good idea of what to expect. These tracks are bare bones, so I won't really be doing a formal review until they show up in an album proper, but I figured I might share my thoughts on the ten tracks and give my predictions on how Michael Gira and company will build on these demos in the studio.
'Leaving Meaning'- Initially turning up in their live set as the end of their track, 'The Knot', this song builds on some repetitive phrasing that's become pretty common in Swans lyrics. The lines this time consist on variations of, "I can ___ it, but not ___ it". The song is softly sung over some simple strummed guitar chords. As for my predictions for the album, I see the group really stretching this track out,which given the list scheme wouldn't be difficult, creating a very hypnotic and instrumentally dense song along the lines of one of their lengthier tracks from their last three records.
'The Hanging Man'- The track begins with the acoustic guitar letting out some fast and methodical, almost locomotive emulating, strumming, followed by some sudden upward bending blasts of chords. This song is definitely a showcase for Michael Gira's vocal eccentricities. For my predictions, I feel like this song could be a more methodical version or 'Oxygen', with Gira's vocals reaching almost freakish levels. The delivery was already pretty strange on the demo, so the studio version could go even further.
'Amnesia'- This is a reworking and new arrangement of the song first heard on Love of Life, though there are some other versions floating around as b-sides or compilation tracks. This version takes a more contemplative and mournful approach than those versions, and I predict it'll stay pretty stripped back when taken into the studio, albeit with some upped sound quality and maybe a few added bells and whistles to help accentuate the mood.
'The Nub'- Jennifer Gira sings this haunting tune, backed by some sour and creepy chords. She sings about floating, nursing and feeding, among other weird imagery. I liked her contribution, and I feel like this will be this album's 'When Will I Return?'; stripped back, but eerie and powerful.
'Cathedrals of Heaven'- This song spews forth a lot of strange imagery (drinking from skulls, peeling of skin, lyming fields, etc.) over a repeating guitar figure. It also repeats a line a lot. "Who (or what) made us like this?" I feel like this will be made a lot more instrumentally dense, plodding, and there's probably a lot of depth to be mined out of this repeating and hypnotic tune.
'Sunfucker'- This song has some weirdly upbeat instrumentation, with its guitar strumming and bursts of chords taking place in some vaguely major keys. The lyrics about surrender, strange leaders, and the repetition of "why am I on this earth?" tell a different story. This song is pretty weird and surreal even in demo form, and I feel like it could have a pretty demented psychedelic feel when brought into the studio.
'What is This?'- The title of this song is pretty fitting, since I really can't get a reading on this song at all. Dark abstract lyrics are laid over some more hopeful guitar, repeating a quick, almost rolling figure. There's an instrumental swell near the end that could get pretty cacophonous in the studio version, but it's hard for me to tell where Gira and company might take this piece.
'My Phantom Limb'- When Michael Gira said the new Swans album would focus a lot more on words, my first thought went to something like this. A lot of this track borders on spoken word, like something from his story collections like The Egg or The Somniloquist. I also get some Jim Morrison vibes from his delivery here. I feel like this will probably stay pretty bare bones, just to allow the words to work their magic.
'Annaline'- This demo has actually been rattling around for a while, as it turned up on an earlier acoustic compilation, I am Not This. This track consists of a simple and pretty 4 note repeated guitar phrase. Gira's voice on this is weirdly soothing, but also makes you a little uncomfortable. I predict that this will stay a pretty laid back little ballad, maybe with some pretty orchestral arrangements or something to maintain the same aesthetic.
'It's Coming and It's Real'- This is another song with some pretty, slow strumming, calm and poetic vocals, and a mixture of beauty and ugliness that is unmistakably Swans. I feel like this could definitely be expanded with tons of more players, leading to the transcendental sound they've become known for in their later years.
I'll definitely be waiting for the new Swans album, and this demos collection did a lot to stoke my anticipation. It'll definitely keep me guessing, and I'll try to avoid Michael Gira's studio updates until the record drops, just to be surprised at what the band has done to these skeletal arrangements. I'll just bury myself in other things until then. Maybe the Marco Porsia documentary on the band will be out by then.
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