Listening now for the first time. This is a really incredible album…
-EDIT - I’m at “A Piece of the Sky” and feel the record could have ended with “Avatar” though…
-EDIT- Or rather, just omitted “A Piece of the Sky” because “The Apostate” is fucking bad ass
Can’t wait to hear the record. “The Apostate” is really incredible, I’ve been rocking the bootleg I made at the Bottom Lounge last year.
Waiting for eMusic to get it (for some reason it takes half a day to get new releases on that site) in case it’s a bit cheaper than getting the download straight from Young God (which is already cheaper than Amazon). Antsy with anticipation…
I got it for $10 in Brooklyn. Listened to it about five times now. In retrospect, I would have paid 5x what I plunked down for it. Brilliant, absolutely brilliant. The only logical complaint anyone could have with this monolith of an album is that the “noise sections” should have been shorter, to which I must respond, “You do know it’s a Swans record… right?”
Waiting for eMusic to get it (for some reason it takes half a day to get new releases on that site) in case it’s a bit cheaper than getting the download straight from Young God (which is already cheaper than Amazon). Antsy with anticipation…
Wish I’d read this last night as I’d have downloaded it from Young God rater than Amazon. Ah well. On first listen, it really is as good as people are saying!
Listening for a second time now. It’s intense, but this whole era of Swans isn’t as immediately arresting as their stuff from the '80s and '90s. I think it needs some time to grow on me.
I’ve given it a good going over by now so I guess I can say a few more things.
In general I’ve found reviews hyperbolic. The album is (at times) big and loud… but it’s not that big and loud.
It feels more distant from 80s and 90s Swans and closer to a more brash and intense Angels of Light.
It is not a very refined album; the sequence of songs is a bit jarring (but I would assume that’s the intention) and often the loudness is just banging away on instruments as opposed to creating heavy sound through rhythm, like what would have been the case with mid 80s Swans.
The lighter songs are a bit of let down. It’s a great idea to have soft elements in the album but songs like ‘The Wolf’, ‘The Daughter Brings the Water’ and especially ‘Song for a Warrior’ don’t hit anything interesting or new (I just don’t get Karen O at all and can only imagine how much better the song could have been had Ms Jarboe handled it)
The “big” songs are pretty cool. On the first disc ‘Mother of the World’, ‘The Seer’ and ‘The Seer Returns’ are solid. The first is one of the best on the album; jagged first half and very different second. The title track is a big beast but for all its length it doesn’t quite make enough use from it all. You can feck around for 10 mins if you want but the crescendos/breaks/peaks need to be deadly which is not always the case with the song. However I think it might be more fitting in a live, ear-splitting capacity.
Apart from the Karen O song the second disc is the best. ‘Avatar’ is the king. ‘A Piece of the Sky’ is one of the highlights even though it doesn’t seem to get much love, it has the most love in it. ‘The Apostate’ is wild and furious but again probably could have run shorter as it didn’t give its length the justice preferred and might fit a live setting better.
It’s a quality album no doubt, a solid 7/10 job. But I wouldn’t see it as the culmination of Swans’ work. It is not as good as ‘Soundtracks for the Blind’… no hesitation in saying that. And their later ‘Construction Rock’ period, the flirtation with goth, (minus the major label album), and the 90s material is better Swans.
But The Seer is a mile above most other “fresh” work. Has to be experienced and if you get the chance to check it live, do it and suffer the hearing loss. Worthy Being Deaf… that’s the name of the next album.
on first listen it’s sounds quite different from previous albums, and yeah Karen O is just not suited to this, i want Jarboe back.
Jarboe is on the album…she won’t be on tour though…
Haven’t heard it yet but I’m hearing mixed opinions from Swans fans I know who have. Some are saying that it is noisy and unfocused and that it at times lacks variation. Also, that the quieter moments are underwhelming. One friend who has heard it says he gives it either a high 5 or low 6 out of 10 and has told me to prepare to have my expectations lowered.
There’s some good stuff going on. But it drags on a lot. Two hours. I’ve yet to really listen to the second disc as much as I have the first. And you can tell Gira wanted more variety. But he went too far. The album doesn’t have an identity. One moment it’s one thing, and a couple minutes later (same track) it wants to be something else.
Very few bands (these days) can pull off a 30 minute song and still keep youf attention. This version of Swans isn’t. But song wise , I’ll still give this a 7/10. The good parts easily outweigh the flaws. Maybe I’m just biased towards Gira taking the band into a jam band direction.
Jeez, it STILL isn’t for sale in any Australian stores yet.
Sucks living down here at times.
Jeez, it STILL isn’t for sale in any Australian stores yet.
Sucks living down here at times.
Why don’t you just rock the MP3s 'til the vinyl shows up? Can’t you buy it directly from the distributor?
Late,
grmpysmrf
On more listens it’s too self-indulgent to be really great. Just plain too long for its own good. This approach makes sense live but on a record it’s obnoxious.
He has all the right ingredients but I think they need a producer from outside the reign them in a bit.
Just plain too long for its own good.
I don’t think this can ever be said about any album or song ever again, now that the Flaming Lips have a 6 HOUR song.
Although, that’s more like a bet than it is a song, isn’t it?
Late,
grmpysmrf
The album kicks major ass from start to finish for me. It’s classic Swans.
The album kicks major ass from start to finish for me. It’s classic Swans.
This…
On more listens it’s too self-indulgent to be really great. Just plain too long for its own good. This approach makes sense live but on a record it’s obnoxious.
He has all the right ingredients but I think they need a producer from outside the reign them in a bit.
Yep. Unfortunately word of mouth has proven to be - once again - quite spot on. After immersing myself in this album for four hours over the weekend (two hours Saturday afternoon and then two hours again later on around 11pm), the first two adjectives that spring immediately to mind are self indulgent and masturbatory. While this would be without doubt a cathartic experience for the musicians involved- for the listener unfortunately it’s (for the most part) a tedious mess. Sad to say, I just can’t imagine spinning this too often in the future. How often, I imagine, am I going to be sitting at home enjoying a cup of coffee or a quiet moment with a book and suddenly think, Gee I think it may be time to give The Seer a spin?!? Probably not very often.
Does it tarnish my opinion of Swans? Well…no. I still love the fuck out of them.
The Seer, you see, is just too damn long for it’s own good. For many reasons it’s just not the album I was hoping for. For a start, I’m really missing those martial-like beats and trance inducing vocals of old. This is too much like a live jam. Too much like Swans meets Angels Of Light meets “desert music”. And definitely too much bashing and crashing of instruments ad nauseum. Seriously, do we really need to sit through nearly 10 minutes of crescendos smack bang in the middle of a song? Do we really need 15 - 20 minutes of instrumental wankery before even a hint of a melody breaks open?? I honestly think Gira’s manic personality and delusions of grandeur got the better of him this time. Leaves me scratching my head.
Although it’s not all bad news. Album opener, Lunacy, is like classic mid 90’s period Swans - complete with echoed vocal chants and a gorgeously lulled final minute before second (and probably greatest) track Mother Of The World comes crashing through with its galloping drums and post punk basslines. The Seer Returns is definitely the creepiest thing on offer here - a welcome break from the 32 minute maelstrom of the preceeding title track - and then gives way to the grim soundingnoise fest of 93 Ave B Blues. Avatar (on disc two) would have fit quite snugly onto either Love of Life or White Light… (and gets my vote for the catchiest thing on offer here) and the first 7 or 8 minutes of A Piece Of the Sky are sublime to say the very least.
Can’t help but feel underwhelmed (not to mention exhausted) by this. Think I’ll give my copy of Holy Money a spin…
[:)]
Being a fan of krautrock, I’m not put off by the least by 1/2 hour jams, in fact I love 'em! Still loving this album too, it impresses the hell out of me that Swans can pull off something this good after their hiatus.
I am listening again now. I don’t like hearing Karen O on this album.
I’m not sure if Gira made this choice to gain more publicity/interest/credibility for the album in the “Pitchfork Media indie/hipster realm” (I doubt that really…but it’s possible)
Either way it should have been Jarboe. Karen O is way too pretty for Swans, in more ways than one.