Sufjan Stevens - Seven Swans - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

In 2009 when I made the decision to restart my musical group, Swans, I had no idea where it would lead. I knew that if I took the road of mining the past or revisiting the catalog, that it would be fruitless and stultifying. After much thought about how to make this an adventure that would instead led the music forward into unexpected terrain, I chose the five people with whom to work that I believed would most ably provide a sense of surprise, and even uncertainty, while simultaneously embodying the strength and confidence to ride the river of intention that flows from the heart of the sound wherever it would lead us - and what's the intention? Love! And so finally this Love has now led us, with the of the new and final recording from this configuration of Swans, The Glowing Man, through four albums (three of which contain more complexity, nuance and scope than I would have ever dreamed possible), several live releases, various fundraiser projects, countless and seemingly endless tours and rehearsals, and a generally exhausting regimen that has left us stunned but still invigorated and thrilled to see this thing through to it's conclusion. I hereby thank my brothers and collaborators for their commitment to whatever truth lies at the center of the sound.

By 1986/7 Swans had run it's course with the physical assault of sound they had employed previously for the most part. Michael Gira states InchI wanted to move on to other things and didn't want to get stuck in some style, which in our case had the potential of becoming cartoonish if we'd continued in that direction. So, I pushed the music into unfamiliar territoryInch. The band spent 6 weeks in an old isolated medieval sawmill in Cornwall, England InchexperimentingInch and hashing things out. Gira describes the lineup with Kizys / Westberg / Jarboe / Parsons as Inchone of the best live versions of Swans ever - actually much more intense and visceral in performance than in the nuanced takes of the songs on these recordings. Jarboe came more to the fore as a presence too.Inch In 2008 Gira would reflect on Children of God as a major turning point for Swans, and the musical tendencies that are first engendered here were fertile ground for the remaining future records. Originally released on Product Inc. (a subsidiary of Mute) in 1987, the album has been remastered and will be available on vinyl in it's original packaging for the first time since that . Both the CD and vinyl issues will include the live album, Feel Good Now, recorded on the 1987 Children of God European tour, in the CD version as an extra disc and in the vinyl version as a download card.

Suicide Swans - Suicide Swans [COMPACT DISCS] date 05/29/2012