Swans announce new LP, release 19 minute song
by

Swans are evolving yet again. Today, the band announced a new LP. It's called Birthing and is due for release on Mute / Young God Records on May 30. The band states that this record will be the final version of this iteration of the band (over the years, the band has changed lineups/genres/approaches to music) in intervals. they will announce a final tour for this phase of the band later this year. You can hear the 19 minute lead single, "I am a tower" below.

Swans leader Michael Gira said in a press release: "“The material contained in this album was largely developed over the course of a yearlong Swans tour, during 2023 - 2024 (‘The Healers’, ‘I Am a Tower’, ‘Birthing’, ‘Guardian Spirit’, ‘Rope’, and ‘Away’), then recorded and further orchestrated and rearranged in the studio. Two pieces were created and performed in the studio (‘Red Yellow’, ‘The Merge’). In all cases the material began with me sitting in my office with an acoustic guitar, singing and dreaming about what would become of these skeletal songs. I’m blessed to have such a stellar group of musicians to work with live (listed below), and through improvisation, endless revisions and an intensity of focus in performance (not to mention endurance), over the course of time the music morphed into what you generally hear on this collection. This album, coupled with the recent live release, Live Rope, constitutes my final foray (as producer / impresario) into the all-consuming sound worlds that have been my obsession for years. We’ll do a final tour in this mode towards the end of 2025, then that’s it. After that, Swans will continue, so long as I’m able, but in a significantly pared down form. Hints of that direction can be found in a few moments on the current album. In the meantime, my hope is that the music provides a positive and fertile atmosphere in which to dream.”