Swans
Soundtracks For The Blind
[Atavistic/Young God]
During their long existence, Swans, or rather Michael Gira - its perpetual
driving force, went through various periods of development, from the
pummeling dirges of the early releases like "Filth" and "Cop" to folk
influenced ballads of "Burning World" or "White Light From The Mouth of
Infinity" to industrial-tinged minimalism of "The Great Annihilator,"
eventually arriving with the monumental and final studio album "Soundtracks
For The Blind." This opus is long, like some infinitely stretched canvas.
Two CDs and almost two and a half hours of music cover a lot of ground. The
record alternates between "proper" songs (of which there is about 10) and
various soundscapes. The moody soundscapes, consisting of instrumentals,
tapes, loops, samples, noise collages, drones, found sounds, embrace
extensive spectrum, from industrial elements to noise and ambient and
everything in between. There we have liquid vibrations of "Red Velvet
Corridor," drones of "The Beautiful Days," haunting keyboard layers of
"Surrogate 2," electronic noise of "I Love You This Much," rockier "Blood
Section," Neurosis-like pounding on "All Lined Up," a sound sample of Gira's
father talking about his blindness on "How They Suffer" - powerful stuff -
...and you can go on and on. The actual songs too, cover a spacious area,
from contorted techno of "Volcano" to Jarboe's belligerent screams on
militant "Yum-Yab Killers" to her creepy laments on "Hypogirl" to Gira's
lingering ballads like "Helpless Child," "Empathy," "Animus" or "The Final
Sacrifice." The album can be equaled to some colossal mosaic where numerous,
variant fragments are joined by a common thread to create a panorama of dark
passions, inner demons and dramatic moodswings.
The entire record is pretty tough to engulf at one sitting. Also, if you are
not a fan of the whole noise-ambient thing, this candy will be very hard for
you to swallow, although, I must repeat that the "proper" songs are
outstanding - long, involving, very emotional, ridden with dark
instrumentation veering from atmospheric serenity to abrasive distortion.
"Soundtracks For The Blind" may not be an easy ride, but it is a stirring,
grandiose and tragic work that deserves to be heard.
© 1999 boris