OMG, OMG, OMG: Swans to release epic double album The Seer in August, tour the US in September with Xiu Xiu

OMG, OMG, OMG: Swans to release epic double album The Seer in August, tour the US in September with Xiu Xiu

Hoo boy, it’s going to be a long, hot summer. First day back to the grind following a long holiday weekend and what do we find waiting for us on our desks? A piece of news at once exciting and insufferable, joyous and torturous, monumental and miniscule. Yes, Swans have announced an upcoming double album, but it won’t be out for another three months.

It’s no secret that TMT is very into Swans, so when news like this comes around, the site gets a bit of a metaphorical boner (as much as a website that covers music can become erect). But three months of anticipation is a recipe for internet fanboy blue balls if ever there was one.

The album will be called The Seer and will be available as a double CD or a triple LP on Young God Records August 28, with a special-edition release that will include a bonus live DVD containing footage from Swans’ epic live shows. A sample of what you can see on the DVD, and what you can experience live this fall, is available here.

But what will the album be about, you ask? How was it made?? Let’s let Swans frontman Michael Gira field those questions:

The Seer took 30 years to make. It’s the culmination of every previous Swans album as well as any other music I’ve ever made, been involved in or imagined. But it’s unfinished, like the songs themselves. It’s one frame in a reel. The frames blur, blend and will eventually fade.
 
The songs began on an acoustic guitar, then were fleshed out with (invaluable) help from my friends, then were further tortured and seduced in rehearsals, live and in the studio, and now they await further cannibalism and force-feeding as we prepare to perform some of them live, at which point they’ll mutate further, endlessly, or perhaps be discarded for a while.

Experience the evolution of these new tracks as Swans take on a wide swathe of the US following the album release on August 28, with veteran art poppers Xiu Xiu on hand to start things off right each night. In the meantime, good luck with making it through the summer. It might be wise to forget you ever read this news story and just be surprised when the album drops for real.

The Seer tracklisting:

01. Lunacy
02. Mother of the World
03. The Wolf
04. The Seer
05. The Seer Returns
06. 93 Ave. B Blues
07. The Daughter Brings the Water
08. Song for a Warrior
09. Avatar
10. A Piece of the Sky
11. The Apostate

Swans tourdates (each show with Xiu Xiu):

09.06.12 - Vancouver, BC - Venue
09.07.12 - Seattle, WA - Neumo’s Crystal Ball Reading Room
09.08.12 - Portland, OR - Hawthorne Theater
09.09.12 - San Francisco, CA - The Regency Grand Ballroom
09.11.12 - Los Angeles, CA - The Music Box
09.12.12 - Phoenix, AZ - Crescent Ballroom
09.14.12 - Austin, TX - La Zona Rosa
09.15.12 - Houston, TX - Fitzgerald’s Upstairs
09.16.12 - Dallas, TX - Trees
09.18.12 - Oklahoma City, OK - ACM Performance Lab
09.19.12 - Kansas City, MO - Beaumont Club
09.20.12 - Lincoln, NE - Bourbon Theatre
09.21.12 - Minneapolis, MN - Fineline Music Cafe
09.22.12 - Milwaukee, WI - Shank Hall
09.24.12 - Denver, CO - Gothic Theater

• Swans: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Swans/13879391977
• Young God: http://younggodrecords.com
• Xiu Xiu: http://xiuxiu.org

Most Read



Etc.