Swans - Newly Sentient Being - 2XCD + DVD

Swans bow out from the “Big Sound” era with a live document that feels like both farewell and peak statement. Capturing the final concert of this phase, it brings together fifteen years of cosmic sonic expressionism at its most heavenly, debased, visceral and transcendent. Across more than two and a half hours of music, this set includes a wealth of new material never recorded elsewhere, plus a DVD of the performance. It stands proudly alongside Swans’ legendary live records, closing this chapter with love and unbridled passion. A fitting goodbye to this stellar line-up: Norman Westberg, Michael Gira, Dana Schechter, Phil Puleo, Pravdica, Larry Mullins and Kristof Hahn.

“In 2010 I made the decision to reconvene my band, Swans, which I had, years earlier, killed out of frustration, disappointment and exhaustion. Now, I saw a light, a way forward for the music, and I decided to pursue it. Neither I, nor my collaborators in sound had any idea how things would eventually unfold, but it felt necessary and right, so we followed the music where it led. Turns out there was and is an audience for our music, which is often less than accessible in the popular sense of the term, but proved to be nevertheless compelling to a growing cadre of folks seeking the kind of unique experience we have offered. I believe we reached some pretty tremendous highs along the way, where the music became a raging, sentient autonomous beast that played us (and the audience/listener), rather than the reverse. That was the goal all along, to lose ourselves in the swirl. It took a lot out of us, physically and psychically to reach the highest plateaus, but once there, there was nothing on earth like it, and I’m glad we did it. Now this phase is finished. There’s nowhere else to take it, but we seem to have ended on a particularly high note with our final tour of this (now passing) Swans era, and I believe these current recordings convey the sensations and experience of the unique world we forged. For the next phase, I’m moving Swans into something with a decidedly more humble and intimate musical palette, but here now I offer my praise to the righteous group of humans, the musicians that made our final foray into the sonic ether a reality: Norman Westberg, Dana Schechter, Phil Puleo, Larry Mullins, Kristof Hahn, Christopher Pravdica...and I was in there flailing somewhere too. “ - Michael Gira / Swans