Arty sonic oppressors Swans recently revealed that they'll be launching another live release to help raise funds to help make what mastermind Michael Gira has described as the "final album" for "this version" of the band. Now, they've delivered all of the details behind the concert-recorded collection, The Gate.
The info has been posted on Gira's Young God Records page, which explains that The Gate is being offered up in double-CD and a triple-LP packages. There are six live recordings on the collection, with four of these being previously unreleased tracks set to be prepped in some fashion for the next Swans studio album. It also includes live run-throughs of To Be Kind's "A Little God in My Hands" and "Just a Little Boy."
Of the newer tunes, Gira explained in a statement that these supposedly longer pieces "were developed through correction, improvisation, and catastrophe over the course of 16 months touring, and they're still not 'finished,' per se." Additionally, The Gate includes five "rough, crudely recorded demos" that will be re-recorded and orchestrated on the as-yet-untitled Swans album. You'll find the full tracklisting details to The Gate down below.
The Gate also includes a DVD documenting Swans' tour cycle behind To Be Kind, while you can also order an option where Gira will draw a portrait of you based on a photo you send his way ("likeness...not guaranteed"). Each CD and LP edition also come personalized by the band,with Gira adding unique drawings to each cardboard cover.
You can find out more of the details over here, where you can pre-order the various packages. So far, there's no firm release date attached to the release.
As for the next Swans album, Gira confirmed that it will be the last featuring the current lineup of himself, guitarist Norman Westerg, pedal steel player Kristof Hahn, percussionist Thor Harris, drummer Phil Puleo and bassist Christopher Pravdica.
"My friends and I in this newest incarnation of Swans have been going at it relentlessly for over 5 years now," Gira writes. "We've either been in the studio or on tour (endlessly, it seems) since I decided to reconvene the band. We are still very much in love with each other, I assure you, and musically our time together has been one of the most fruitful periods of my own long career, due in no small part to the intuitive rapport we've developed together."
Though the last few years have offered up three full-length records and various live releases, the next incarnation might not be as prolific, with Gira noting, "most likely, Swans albums will not appear so fast and furious."
He adds: "And who knows how future albums will sound? One part of me wants more sound in the future, more orchestration, complete sonic overload, and another side wants to pare things down and try at last to write the extended sort of narratives I've always thought lurked somewhere inside me but I never quite found."
You can read Gira's full statement on the future of Swans over here.
The Gate:
CD2:
The info has been posted on Gira's Young God Records page, which explains that The Gate is being offered up in double-CD and a triple-LP packages. There are six live recordings on the collection, with four of these being previously unreleased tracks set to be prepped in some fashion for the next Swans studio album. It also includes live run-throughs of To Be Kind's "A Little God in My Hands" and "Just a Little Boy."
Of the newer tunes, Gira explained in a statement that these supposedly longer pieces "were developed through correction, improvisation, and catastrophe over the course of 16 months touring, and they're still not 'finished,' per se." Additionally, The Gate includes five "rough, crudely recorded demos" that will be re-recorded and orchestrated on the as-yet-untitled Swans album. You'll find the full tracklisting details to The Gate down below.
The Gate also includes a DVD documenting Swans' tour cycle behind To Be Kind, while you can also order an option where Gira will draw a portrait of you based on a photo you send his way ("likeness...not guaranteed"). Each CD and LP edition also come personalized by the band,with Gira adding unique drawings to each cardboard cover.
You can find out more of the details over here, where you can pre-order the various packages. So far, there's no firm release date attached to the release.
As for the next Swans album, Gira confirmed that it will be the last featuring the current lineup of himself, guitarist Norman Westerg, pedal steel player Kristof Hahn, percussionist Thor Harris, drummer Phil Puleo and bassist Christopher Pravdica.
"My friends and I in this newest incarnation of Swans have been going at it relentlessly for over 5 years now," Gira writes. "We've either been in the studio or on tour (endlessly, it seems) since I decided to reconvene the band. We are still very much in love with each other, I assure you, and musically our time together has been one of the most fruitful periods of my own long career, due in no small part to the intuitive rapport we've developed together."
Though the last few years have offered up three full-length records and various live releases, the next incarnation might not be as prolific, with Gira noting, "most likely, Swans albums will not appear so fast and furious."
He adds: "And who knows how future albums will sound? One part of me wants more sound in the future, more orchestration, complete sonic overload, and another side wants to pare things down and try at last to write the extended sort of narratives I've always thought lurked somewhere inside me but I never quite found."
You can read Gira's full statement on the future of Swans over here.
The Gate:
CD1:
1. Frankie M.
2. A Little God in My Hands
3. Apos/Cloud of Unforming
CD2:
1. Just a Little Boy
2. Cloud of Forgetting
3. Bring the Sun/Black-Eyed Man
4. When Will I Return (demo)
5. New Rhythm Thing (demo)
6. People Like Us (demo)
7. Red Rhythm Thing (demo)
8. Finally, Peace (demo)