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 βWhere Does A Body End?β.
In March 2021, Michael Gira released a tracklist of an upcoming Swans album, titled The Beggar. It was released on June 23, 2023.
Blackout
Swans Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Get Drunk
Breathe In
Breathe In
Don't Breathe
Don't Breathe
Blackout
Blackout
Don't Talk Until You're Spoken To
Don't Talk Until You're Spoken To
Don't Breath
Don't Breath
Blackout
Blackout
The lyrics of Blackout by Swans depict a state of intoxication and sensory deprivation. The repeated phrases of "Get drunk" and "Breathe in" seem to encourage a loss of control and a desire to escape reality. The line "Don't breathe" could suggest a self-destructive urge or a desire to disconnect from the physical world. The use of the word "blackout" reinforces this idea of losing oneself completely, to the point of losing consciousness. The admonishment to not talk until spoken to could represent a need for silence, either as a calming influence or a means of shutting out outside influences. Overall, the lyrics of Blackout create a sense of chaos and disconnection from reality.
Line by Line Meaning
Get Drunk
Indulge in excessive consumption of alcohol
Breathe In
Inhale air into your lungs
Don't Breathe
Refuse to inhale air into your lungs
Blackout
Experience a temporary loss of consciousness or memory due to excessive consumption of alcohol or drugs
Don't Talk Until You're Spoken To
Do not initiate conversation, wait for someone else to engage you in dialogue
Don't Breath
Choose not to inhale air into your lungs
Blackout
Experience another temporary loss of consciousness or memory due to excessive consumption of alcohol or drugs
Lyrics Β© Sentric Music, Downtown Music Publishing, Peermusic Publishing
Written by: MATTHEW HARRIS, PETER TAYLOR, SCOTT HARRIS, STEVEN MCGUINNESS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Just a Random Guy
Wow as a fan of Olivia Rodrigo I really like this song! It really reminds me of her music!
corduroy kumquat
No experience in my life has provided me more joy or pleasure than blasting this song and Oxygen while spinning in my computer chair
Jean Marceaux
The Jarre Oxygen?
RPB
πππππ
Clubβ‘οΈNoise
Incredibly bad ass having two drummers in the context of this mind numbing assault
TheMemoriesOf
i like the overpowering sense of dirtiness and disillusion all throughout this album, amazing!
TheStrayDog
Me and my sleep paralysis demon both love this track
Messer Eerieness ,The Deacon Blues.
My favourite song of the album!!!!!!
John Smith
Was drinking at a club ass bar, heard this song come on and it turns out it was Def Leppard's song pour some sugar on me.
And I don't feel like enough people are getting upset about this.
The Man Downstairs
Jozef Wicks-Sharp I believe this is a joke. You'll find these comment sections full of jokes because there is never anything to say that the band themselves haven't already said.