Marginally associated with the no wave scene at first, their original sound was slow and extremely heavy, with live performances that were often so brutal and physical that in a number of instances certain audience members were made ill, police were called and venues were shut down. This early physical sound is possibly best heard on the live album Public Castration Is A Good idea.
Their initial style shifted a little by the time Swans released seminal twin albums Greed and Holy Money. The music had sped up, at times being even more punishing than their earlier output. Drum machines and samples were slightly more prominent. Michael Gira was joined vocally by Jarboe which gave the band a broader sonic range. Tracks featuring Jarboe were often quieter, even pretty, acting as counterpoint to the more harrowing themes on the albums. Over time, this style would come to dominate Swans' output, although they somehow seem to have been able to make a strummed acoustic guitar seem as brutal as their earlier amped-up assaults. The lush instrumentation of their albums from the late 1980s and the 1990's anticipated the birth of post-rock.
Swans eventually broke up in 1997; Gira went on to release some solo work, later forming the band The Angels Of Light, who continue many of the themes and styles found in (later) Swans. Jarboe releases solo work and frequently works with other bands and artists; recently she released an album with Neurosis, a group clearly heavily influenced by Swans.
The influence of Swans upon the music world is profound. Across their 15 years of existence, the various styles they explored gave birth to grindcore (Napalm Death, Nasum) modern "cinematic" post-rock (Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Mono), and atmospheric sludge metal (Isis, Neurosis).
In January 2010, Michael Gira reactivated Swans and released a new album, My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky on September 2010, and the band simultaneously embarked on a world tour scheduled to last eighteen months. The band had been chosen by Portishead to perform at the ATP I'll Be Your Mirror festivals that they curated in July 2011 at London's Alexandra Palace and in September 2011 in Asbury Park, New Jersey.
On August 28, 2012, Swans released The Seer, a double-album running almost 2 hours in length. Frontman Michael Gira described the album as taking "30 years to make. It's the culmination of every previous Swans album as well as any other music I've ever made, been involved in or imagined. But it's unfinished, like the songs themselves. It's one frame in a reel. The frames blur, blend and will eventually fade." Describing the songwriting process, Gira said, "The songs began on an acoustic guitar, then were fleshed out with (invaluable) help from my friends, then were further tortured and seduced in the studio, and now they await further cannibalism and force-feeding as we prepare to perform some of them live, at which point they'll mutate further, endlessly, or perhaps be discarded for a while."
On May 12, 2014, Swans released their thirteenth LP, To Be Kind. Produced by Michael Gira and recorded by John Congleton. It received positive reception from critics which made the group continue to make more albums that have also have received positive reviews.
It was announced on July 22, 2015, that the band was releasing their fourteenth studio album, titled The Glowing Man. The album was released on June 17, 2016.
After The Glowing Man released, the band took a hiatus lasting nearly a year in 2017 and ending in 2018. The band released their fifteenth studio LP Leaving Meaning the next year. The same year, a documentary about Swans was released titled “Where Does A Body End?”.
In March 2021, Michael Gira released a tracklist of an upcoming Swans album, titled The Beggar. It was released on June 23, 2023.
24 Hours
Swans Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Because you bought one third, you own everything.
Shut off the possibility, and wipe out the imagination.
Now the world stands still.
I'll take it with me to my grave.
Wrap your hands around my neck.
Now choke me slowly, but I won't die.
I know one thing, and one thing only: you are what you learn to need.
I'll take them with me to my grave.
The lyrics to Swans' song "24 Hours" are emotional and powerful, speaking to the idea of ownership and control. The lyrics begin by discussing how the 24 hours in a day can be split three ways, which likely symbolizes the idea of dividing power between three people. The second line, "Because you bought one third, you own everything," takes this idea further, suggesting that whoever has control of even a fraction of something has the ability to control it completely.
The following lines of the song paint a rather bleak picture of a world that has been stripped of possibility and imagination. The singer of the song seems to revel in the sense of power that they hold over their surroundings, even going so far as to take this mindset to their grave. In a paradoxical twist, the song then shifts to a darker tone, with the singer inviting someone to choke them slowly. This could be interpreted as a further assertion of control or as a substitution for the sense of power they may be lacking in their waking life.
The last two lines of the song suggest that the singer will surround themselves with things that "look like" them, taking them to their grave as well. This could be interpreted in multiple ways, such as surrounding oneself with the familiar, protecting oneself from others who may seek to exert control over them, or as an attempt to exert control over their surroundings even beyond death.
Line by Line Meaning
24 hours, split three ways.
Twenty-four hours of each day is equally divided into three parts.
Because you bought one third, you own everything.
If you own one third of something that is divided into three parts, you own everything.
Shut off the possibility, and wipe out the imagination.
Close your mind to possibilities and eliminate your creativity.
Now the world stands still.
Once you limit your thoughts and creativity, the world seems to stop moving and evolving.
I'll take it with me to my grave.
I will hold onto my beliefs and ideas until my death.
Wrap your hands around my neck.
Take control and power over me.
Now choke me slowly, but I won't die.
Even if you try to suppress and silence me, I will persist and survive.
I know one thing, and one thing only: you are what you learn to need.
Our desires and needs shape who we are as individuals.
I'll surround myself with things that look like me.
I will choose surroundings that reflect my identity and beliefs.
I'll take them with me to my grave.
I will hold onto my identity and beliefs until my death.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
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