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.
Nothing Without You
Swans Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Defeated, I'll disappear.
I left myself, beneath your skin.
What were you?
Who was I then?
Look over there, against the wall.
There's a memory there: red hands, blood and hair.
I don't know where you are.
The lyrics of Swans' "Nothing Without You" reflect the idea of being completely dependent on someone and losing one's own identity in the process. The singer expresses their vulnerability when the person they are with is near - they become weak and slow, unable to function without them. The phrase "defeated, I'll disappear" suggests that they have lost themselves completely to this person, and have given up on trying to retain any sense of self.
The lyrics also mention leaving oneself beneath the other person's skin, which could be interpreted as a metaphor for losing one's own identity and becoming defined by their relationship with someone else. The lines "What were you? Who was I then?" suggest that being with this person has fundamentally changed the singer's perception of themselves and their place in the world.
The final lines "I don't know where you are. I don't know where I end, I'm nothing, without you" highlights the codependency between the two individuals, where they are unable to distinguish where one person ends and the other begins. The singer asserts that they are nothing without this person, emphasizing the fact that they have surrendered all sense of self and identity to be with them.
Line by Line Meaning
I'm weak and I'm slow, when you are near.
Your presence weakens me and slows me down, making me dependent on you.
Defeated, I'll disappear.
In your absence, I will be powerless and fade away into nothingness.
I left myself, beneath your skin.
I have surrendered my true identity to become a part of you, to be intertwined with you.
What were you?
I am perplexed and curious about who you truly are and what you represent to me.
Who was I then?
Being with you has transformed me so much that I no longer recognize my former self.
Look over there, against the wall.
There is a vivid memory etched in my mind of a violent incident, that is haunting me again.
There's a memory there: red hands, blood and hair.
This memory involves gruesome details of blood, hair, and violent red hands that are now imprinted in my brain.
I don't know where you are.
I feel lost and aimless without your presence in my life, I am unsure of where you stand or where we stand together.
I don't know where I end, I'm nothing, without you.
You have become such an integral part of my being, that I would be no one without you, even my identity is bound to yours.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
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