|
I have to admit I am sharing similar feelings about this reunion-reinvention of Swans.
Swans Are Dead was such a statement, an epitome of everything the band stood for.
Musically it felt like "this is how far Swans can go". The version of Blood Promise on the album still is my favorite song they ever did, the ending build-up leaves me in cold sweat, the emotional intensity! This was the end of Swans, but it felt right. Gira killed Swans, because there was nowhere else to go, nowhere to move, without becoming a cliché, without starting to imitate itself.
I was pleasantly surprised when I heard Swans are coming back together. I thought to myself that Gira would not bring back Swans without a reason, that maybe he found a way to step beyond Swans are Dead.
I was disappointed. I love the new stuff, I truly do, but it's nothing like the Swans I loved, sometimes I doubt it's Swans at all.
I think to properly reflect on the new Swans one must take into account Gira's work with Angels of Light.
We get songs that are droned out for 30 minutes, okay, I get that, but none of the new songs (with the exception of Kirsten Supine, maybe) offer anything as intense and powerful as The Sound, Helpless Child or, the already mentioned, Blood Promise.
Again, I like the new Swans (maybe I just badly want to), but all those 30-35 min songs feel pointless to me.
|