Swans

Latest Release

Essential Albums

  • To Be Kind
  • Soundtracks For the Blind

Artist Playlists

  • Swans Essentials
  • Inspired by Swans

Compilations

About Swans

One of the most uncompromising bands ever, Swans make music that alternates bleak, brutal, noise rock with spiritual, ethereal folk and intensely loud live performances. Emerging from the downtown New York no wave scene, the Michael Gira-led band's confrontational shows supported dissonant, repetitive records including 1983's Filth. The dirge-like industrial of 1986's Greed introduced a more atmospheric sound with the addition of vocalist/songwriter Jarboe. 1991's White Light from the Mouth of Infinity was significantly more melodic and elaborately produced, even as the group's concerts remained spectacles. They disbanded in 1997, following Soundtracks for the Blind. Gira re-formed Swans in 2010. This incarnation produced the group's most commercially successful work, To Be Kind, in 2014. Gira returned Swans to an alternating lineup in 2017, subsequently working with a revolving cast on 2019's leaving meaning. and 2023's The Beggar, both less intense than their previous work but similarly hypnotic and experimental.

ORIGIN
New York, NY, United States
FORMED
1982
GENRE
Alternative

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