Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2013 | 08:54
Swans - Not Here / Not Now
i recently received the new swans live album 'not here/not now', which they sold through their website in a limited edition aimed at earning enough money to support the recording and release of the next swans studio album. it's really good, and a good representation of how their live show sounds. where i struggle is the direction this swans resurrection is taking. it's not quite as basic as the early primal swans, but it lacks the experimentalism of 'soundtracks for the blind'. maybe this is a function of jarboe not being involved, or maybe gira simply isn't interestd in some of those directions. the resurrected swans keeps the drones and boosts the percussion--even the guitars come across more percussively than they did before. i can't say i dislike this sound, but it runs the risk of falling into a holding pattern, and even stagnating. i worry about the band's future for that reason.
all this said, 'not here/not now' is a very good release. 'the seer' was excellent and i have high expectations for the next swans album. this is not a band to release undercooked or underwhelming music. as long as the next one doesn't sound like a retread of 'the seer' i'm sure it'll be good.
