Swans - The Beggar - VINYL LP

Vinyl LP pressing. The Great Annihilator, originally released in 1995 and described at the time as Inch... a majestic symphony of haunting melodies and shifting moodsInch (SF Bay Guardian), will be released on double vinyl - the album's first on the for decades. The vinyl edition (in the form of a download code) will also feature Drainland, Michael Gira's debut solo album recorded at the same time as The Great Annihilator. Album Tracks 1. in 2. I Am the Sun 3. She Lives 4. Celebrity Lifestyle 5. Mother/Father 6. Blood Promise 7. Mind/Body/Light/Sound 8. My Buried Child 9. Warm 10. Alcohol the Seed 11. Killing for Company 12. Mother's Milk 13. Where Does a Body End? 14. Telepathy 15. The Great Annihilator 16. Out

The material contained in this album was largely developed over the course a yearlong Swans tour, during 2023 - 2024 ('The Healers', 'I Am a Tower', 'Birthing', 'Guardian Spirit', 'Rope', and 'Away'), then recorded and further orchestrated and rearranged in the studio. Two pieces were created and performed in the studio ('Red Yellow', 'The Merge').  In all cases the material began with me sitting in my office with an acoustic guitar, singing and dreaming about what would become of these skeletal songs. I'm blessed to have such a stellar group of musicians to work with live (listed below), and through improvisation, endless revisions and an intensity of focus in performance (not to mention endurance), over the course of time the music morphed into what you generally hear on this collection. This album, coupled with the recent live , Live Rope, constitutes my final foray (as producer / impresario) into the all-consuming sound worlds that have been my obsession for years. We'll do a final tour in this mode towards the end of 2025, then that's it.  After that, Swans will continue, so long as I'm able, but in a significantly pared down form. Hints of that direction can be found in a few moments on the current album. In the meantime, my hope is that the music provides a positive and fertile atmosphere in which to dream. - Michael Gira / Swans  SWANS BIRTHING ALBUM CONTRIBUTORS Michael Gira - acoustic guitar, voice, producer; Phil Puleo - drums, hammer dulcimer, flute, melodica, percussion; Kristof Hahn - lap steel guitar, electric and acoustic guitars, loops, backing vocals; Dana Schechter - lap steel guitar, bass guitar, loops; Christopher Pravdica - bass guitar, Taishogoto, loops, sounds, keyboards; Larry Mullins - Mellotron, keyboards, piano, synthesizer, drums, vibraphone, percussion, backing vocals; Norman Westberg - electric guitar, loops... Guest Musicians Jennife

With specially made instruments and a range that can emulate that of a whole orchestra, the acclaimed Guitarra a Seis bring us a colorful program that includes works written specially for the ensemble. Opening with a real feast for the ears in Bach's lively Brandenburg Concerto No. 3, we further encounter the magical moods of Ravel's Ma mere l'Oye, a blend of Bulgarian folk and modern music from Atanas Ourkouzounov, Tobias Krebs' jazz-infused Suite Panamericana, and Sergio Assad's humorous Juan Sebastian's Bar, which alludes to Bach and Beethoven but is Brazilian through and through. Album Tracks 1. Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G major, BWV 1048~I. Allegro 2. Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G major, BWV 1048~II. Adagio 3. Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G major, BWV 1048~III. Allegro 4. Ipercubo, Op. 18 5. Italiana in Algeri - Overture 6. Codex Bulgaricus 7. Ma mère l'Oye~I. Pavane de la belle au bois dormant 8. Ma mère l'Oye~II. Petit Poucet 9. Ma mère l'Oye~III. Laideronnette, impératrice des pagodes 10. Ma mère l'Oye~IV. Les entretiens de la belle et de la bête 11. Ma mère l'Oye~V. Le jardin féerique 12. Suite panamericana~I. Kind of Swing 13. Suite panamericana~II. Kind of Blues 14. Suite panamericana~III. Kind of Latin 15. Juan Sebastian's Bar