In medieval days, troubadours sang of virgins that — if they were pure enough of heart and um, loin — could wander into the forest and sit beneath the embracing arms of a great oak and call forth a mystical unicorn by virtue of their hope, devotion, and love. The unicorn would emerge, a living symbol of beauty, belief, and eagerness for virgins. Now, in our modern world, we live blissfully free of many of the strange relics of those bygone days — lute players, bubonic plague, virgins, and forests, for example — but one thing does remain. The unicorn. Swans are our metaphorical unicorn.
I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking: “What? Shut up! You just ruined an article about Swans with your stupid intro paragraph!” I know this because I’m thinking it, too. But bear with me. After 1998’s live Swans album announced that Swans Are Dead, a period of darkness began for fans. Yes, Angels of Light were around, but fans — like that fabled virgin — still yearned for the lovely aggression of a good old-fashioned Swans song. Years went by. And then, in 2010, as if summoned by a higher power, Swans/Young Gods Records founder Michael Gira announced that Swans would return.
In the past year, they’ve been busy recording new material, releasing an album, and playing shows. And now this has just been revealed via their official Facebook page:
swans will be recording material for new album in berlin first 2 weeks of july…
Yes!! But that’s not all! Swans’ triumphant return continues with a lengthy European (and elsewhere) tour. The band was hand-selected by Portishead to perform as part of ATP’s I’ll Be Your Mirror Festival at Alexandria Palace in London at the end of July. Gira and Co. are also taking part in Roskilde, Primavera Sound, and in what sounds like a premise for a classic Swansian tale of self-hate, drudgery, and general down-and-outness, at a shipyard in Gdansk, Poland.
Dates:
05.02.11 - Copenhagen, Demark - Vega
05.03.11 - Aarhus, Denmark - VoxHall
05.04.11 - Malmö, Sweden - Babel
05.06.11 - Oslo, Norway - Rockefeller
05.07.11 - Drammen, Norway - Union Scene
05.08.11 - Stockholm, Sweden - Strand
05.10.11 - Tampere, Finland - Klubi
05.11.11 - Helsinki, Finland - Tavastia
05.12.11 - Tallinn, Estonia - Von Krahl Theatre Bar
05.13.11 - Riga, Latvia - VEF Culture Palace
05.14.11 - St. Petersburg, Russia - SKIF Festival at Sergey Kuryokhin Modern Art Center
05.15.11 - Moscow, Russia - Avant Club
05.17.11 - Gdansk, Poland - Dockyards of Gdansk Shipyard
05.18.11 - Leipzig, Germany - Central Theater
05.19.11 - Munich, Germany - Feierwerk
05.21.11 - Budapest, Hungary - Trafó House of Contemporary Arts
05.22.11 - Brataslava, Slovakia - Majestic Teater
05.23.11 - Zagreb, Croatia - Teatar Itd
05.24.11 - Ljubljana, Slovenia - Kino Kiska Centre for Urban Culture
05.25.11 - Salzburg, Austria - Rockhouse
05.26.11 - Düdingen, Switzerland - Café Bad Bonn - Bad Bonn Kilbi Festival
05.28.11 - Barcelona, Spain - Primavera Sound Festival
07.01.11 - Rosklide, Denmark - Roskilde Festival
07.15.11 - Berlin, Germany - Melt Festival
07.16.11 - Herk, Belgium - Rock Herk Festival
07.17.11 - Ostrava, Czech Republic - Ostrava Open Air Festival
07.20.11 - Amsterdam, Netherlands - Melkweg
07.21.11 - Cologne, Germany - Gebaede Neun
07.22.11 - Paris, France - La Maroquinerie
07.24.11 - London, UK - ATP “I’ll Be Your Mirror” Festival
• Swans: http://www.myspace.com/swansaredead
• Young God: http://younggodrecords.com
