NYC experimental rock act Swans returns to San Francisco
Michael Gira and his experimental post-punk band Swans return to San Francisco for this show at the Great American Music Hall Thursday.
Rising from the same artistic cauldron of early '80s New York City that nurtured noise rockers Sonic Youth (whose leader Thurston Moore was an early member) and jazz avant gardist John Zorn, Swans embraced harsh dissonance in the band's music and menacing confrontation in its performance from the outset. Built around hypnotic, repetitive riffs, lumbering tempos and Gira's brooding vocal delivery of his dark lyrics, songs on early Swans efforts like the band's full-length debut Filth and its abrasive follow-up established the group's brutal, almost industrial template.
While Gira would use a constantly revolving cast of collaborators, some like guitarist Norman Westberg and later addition Jarboe on vocals and keyboards would become major contributors over the course of the band's decades in existence. Gradually moving away from the sheer aggression of the group's initial sound, by the late '80s Swans were exploring acoustic instrumentation and broader dynamics that still managed to maintain the intensity and desperation of the earlier music.
A brief dalliance with major label MCA led to a single Bill Laswell produced album -- The Burning World in 1989 -- that was a close as Gira and company ever came to traditional pop, but its failure and the subsequent parting with MCA pushed the band to new creative heights during the decade that followed. Efforts on Gira's own Young Gods imprint including White Light from the Mouth of Infinity, The Great Annihilator and the watershed double album Soundtracks for the Blind solidified Swans' status as one of the most powerful and cathartic bands of the era.
Gira would dissolve the band in 1998, shifting his focus to the more acoustic-oriented Angels of Light for over a decade before reconvening a new version of Swans for what would arguably be their most creative period yet. Starting with the band's 2010 recording My Father Will Guide Me up a Rope to the Sky, Swans put out a string of transcendent limited edition live and studio records exploring more extended song forms and spiritual themes -- including the stellar trilogy The Seer, To Be Kind and The Glowing Man -- as well as touring extensively, reaffirming the ensemble's reputation as an inspired artistic unit and live juggernaut.
The Gira/Swans documentary Where Does A Body End? was first announced in early 2017 and has received glowing reviews at festival screenings for filmmaker Marco Porsia's intimate look at Gira and the band's evolution over 35 years of musical experimentation. The film got a special West Coast premiere at Gray Area for the opening night of the 2019 Recombinant Festival focusing on avant-garde art, music and cinema.
While the prolific Gira retired his celebrated powerhouse line-up of the group after a final tour in 2017, he would emerge with some of those same band members including Swans veterans Kristof Hahn (guitars), Christopher Pravdica (bass), Phil Puleo (drums) for the band's 2019 double album opus, Leaving Meaning. Swans latest effort The Begger and the current version of Swans features the above players alongside returning mid-90s era percussionist and Bay Area musician Larry Mullins and Bee & Flower, Angels of Light and Insect Ark member Dana Schechter (bass, lap steel guitar, keyboards). The group played a pair of spectacularly loud and intense shows at the Great American Music Hall last fall that marked Swans first visit to San Francisco in six years. For this return show at the Great American, Hahn will also open with a solo set.
Swans with Kristof Hahn
Thursday, May 2, 8 p.m. $40-$45
Great American Music Hall
