SWANS — Swans (review)

SWANS — Swans album cover EP · 1982 · Non-Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
siLLy puPPy
The experimental rock band SWANS began in New York city emerging from the short lived no wave scene that was taking a side trip off the post-punk bandwagon and in 1982 found the band releasing their very first album in the form of this eponymous EP. While SWANS have evolved their sound significantly over the decades they have never lost the basic groove that can be heard on this early offering and like most SWANS albums is the creation of the mutli-instrumentalist, singer / songwriter and band leader Michael Gira.

As with the majority of no wave creations of the era, this one is characterized by hypnotic bass grooves, abrasive atonal guitar sounds, heavy percussive drives and a thick brooding raw and filthy atmosphere with melodies being replaced by mesmerizing repetition in the galloping rhythms. This early lineup of SWANS consisted of Jonathan Kane on drums, Bob Pezzola on guitar and is the only SWANS release to feature saxophone with Daniel Galli-Duani on board as well as the only constant member Gira. Despite the inclusion of the brass, this doesn’t sound jazzy in the least bit and is as abrasive and disgustingly dissonant and industrial as the other instruments.

While the EP was only ever released on 7” vinyl on its own, it has been faithfully restored and remastered and appears tacked onto the end of the remastered version of “Filth,” the band’s first full-length album which came out the following year. While SWANS at this point didn’t quite muster up the variety of sounds and expressions that later albums would propel them through the ensuing decades, this early SWANS makes up for it in that quintessential post-punk attitude that combined with the no wave alienating aesthetics makes this an adrenaline inducing slice of early 80s underground music that i find quite addictive. Just as essential as “Filth” and a fitting sidekick tacked onto its remastered edition.
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