Swans - To Be Kind

Swans
To Be Kind
12 May 2014
Young God

5 stars out of 5

 

Since Michael Gira reformed Swans in 2010 they’ve been on a roll: three studio LPs of their most intense and uncompromising work. To Be Kind is—wait for it—a triple LP set that clocks in at a little over two hours. So what’s the difference between To Be Kind and Sandinista!, you ask? Well, for starters, TBK doesn’t suck. It also doesn’t have thirty-six songs; here Gira offers us just ten, the nice round number typical of pop LPs—except one of these songs just by itself is longer than entire albums by other bands. Thirdly, on these three discs Swans are not attempting to appeal to every single demographic on the planet; indeed, Gira probably doesn’t give a fuck about pleasing anyone but himself, and that is part of what makes both To Be Kind and Swans in general the incredible examples of fine art that they are.

While still instantly recognizable as Swans, To Be Kind is a very different record from 2012’s The Seer. Where two years ago Gira was the wise but angry father figure, now he’s the sadistic carnival barker, heaping abuse upon those who dare to step inside his dark and decidedly unpleasant tent. The arrangements claw back at Norman Westberg’s guitar in most places, allowing room for the bass and percussion to breathe. When Westberg is permitted to cut loose, his repetitive minimalist riffs, while overpowering as always, never attempt to steal center stage. “Nathalie Neal” features a few seconds of what could almost be considered soloing, but it’s background texture, by no means a showcase for individualist virtuosity.

With records like The Seer and To Be Kind, Swans have transcended the genre of rock music and now find themselves free of genre in general. There’s no attempt here to follow any sort of rock rules or formulae, apart from using instruments long associated with rock. The record they made almost twenty years ago, The Great Annihilator, could be seen as approaching mainstream rock ‘n’ roll when compared to their current work. Gira continues to systematically remove any blemish or stain that rock may have left on his creativity, a project that so far has taken over thirty years. He’s closer and closer to a complete purity of his unique artistic vision, with each new album more fully-realized and more essential than the last.

reviewed by Richard Krueger