Norman Westberg has played in various projects over the years, but he's best known as the longtime guitarist of Swans, having joined the band in the early '80s. The New York musician has also released a couple of low-key solo works, and now one of these limited releases is being issued more widely.
Westberg's album 13 will be out on November 13 through Room40. The album was originally recorded in 2013 and came out soon after in a handmade limited edition of just 75 copies; now it has been edited and remastered, and is being made available on CD and in its first-ever digital edition.
In a statement, Room40's director Lawrence English said this about Westberg:
His guitar, as singular source, becomes transformed through a web of outboard processes. He transforms vibrating strings completely, taking singular gesture and reshapes it through webs of delay, reverb and other treatments. To me, these works echo many of the concerns of American minimalism and sprawl towards the work of bands such as Stars of the Lid. Norman has created a very dense and powerful statement of intent with these recordings and I couldn't be more pleased to have some small part in helping to share them.
The three-song tracklist is below. Opening cut "Frostbite Fall" is below that, although this is the original version and not the edited and remastered version. The album can be pre-ordered here.
Meanwhile, Swans have a new live album on the way, which they will use to fund their next studio LP.
13:
1. Frostbite Falls
2. Bunny Bill
3. Oops, Wrong Hat
Westberg's album 13 will be out on November 13 through Room40. The album was originally recorded in 2013 and came out soon after in a handmade limited edition of just 75 copies; now it has been edited and remastered, and is being made available on CD and in its first-ever digital edition.
In a statement, Room40's director Lawrence English said this about Westberg:
His guitar, as singular source, becomes transformed through a web of outboard processes. He transforms vibrating strings completely, taking singular gesture and reshapes it through webs of delay, reverb and other treatments. To me, these works echo many of the concerns of American minimalism and sprawl towards the work of bands such as Stars of the Lid. Norman has created a very dense and powerful statement of intent with these recordings and I couldn't be more pleased to have some small part in helping to share them.
The three-song tracklist is below. Opening cut "Frostbite Fall" is below that, although this is the original version and not the edited and remastered version. The album can be pre-ordered here.
Meanwhile, Swans have a new live album on the way, which they will use to fund their next studio LP.
13:
1. Frostbite Falls
2. Bunny Bill
3. Oops, Wrong Hat