“The Glowing Man” is Swans’ fourteenth full-length record and the fourth since the band’s reunion in 2010 after their 1997 breakup. Since their inception in the early ‘80s, Swans have been hard to pin down in one genre. In their early years along with Sonic Youth, they were instrumental in shaping the noisier side of no wave.
Their most recent albums, namely “The Seer,” “To Be Kind,” and now “The Glowing Man,” when compared to the band’s early output are a bit less noisy and far more experimental. That’s really the best way to describe Swans’ music: experimental. They’re making music that sounds solely like Swans and no other group else has truly matched their sound.
The band’s first record after their breakup, “My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky” definitely wasn’t their best, but it set the groundwork for their reformation. Two years later, “The Seer” expanded on the band’s sound and took a more chaotic approach as well as bringing in nearly twenty guest musicians, including Karen O and former Swans member, Jarboe. Another two years later we saw the release of “To Be Kind,” my personal favorite Swans record. This album took the band’s evolution from “The Seer,” and once again expanded on it. TBK featured slow drones reminiscent of 1996’s “Soundtracks For The Blind.” It had hints of the absolutely noisy insanity of some of the tracks from “The Seer,” the atmosphere of “My Father Will Guide Me…” and the aggression of their first album, “Filth.” “To Be Kind” was Swans. It was the culmination of everything they had built up since the ‘80s. In my opinion it’s the best album Swans could have put out at the time.
But, here we are. Two years after the release of “To Be Kind,” we have “The Glowing Man.” There’s no question that this is a great record. But here’s the biggest issue: While every album Swans had put out previously had expanded upon and reshaped the sound of the record before it, “The Glowing Man” is just more of what was on “To Be Kind.” Clearly, this is not a bad thing, don’t get me wrong. But I feel that Swans could have done more. It’s clear that this is exactly what the band set out to do, given both album’s strikingly similar cover art.
It’s important to know that going into this record, listeners shouldn’t expect anything new or groundbreaking from the band. But what they will get is some goddamn great TBK-era Swans.
Like many other Swans albums, this record is quite the time investment, clocking in at just over 118 minutes. The shortest track is around four and a half minutes and the longest is twenty nine minutes. Out of the eight songs on this record, five of them are over twelve minutes long.
Even with such long runtimes, none of these songs ever get boring. This is the first thing that really amazed me about this record - even with a runtime only a couple minutes shorter than “To Be Kind’s,” “The Glowing Man” manages to trim what little fat was left on Swans’ previous album. Although “To Be Kind” was near-perfect in my mind, there were a couple moments that felt a bit too drawn out or monotonous. Instances like that are nowhere to be heard on “The Glowing Man.”
The album’s opening tracks, “Cloud of Forgetting” and “Cloud of Unknowing” brilliantly complement each other. “Forgetting” starts the album off with slowly strummed acoustic guitars. Throughout the track, more and more instrumentation is layered on top before Gira’s instantly identifiable voice begins repeating “walking, counting, breathing, reaching.” This all continues to build up until wailing tremolo-picked guitars carry the track out.
“Unknowing,” picks up where “Forgetting” left its listeners. Here, we start off with a quick drone before transitioning into a guitar riff that is repeated over and over in a very Swans-esque manner. Once again, Gira’s booming voice is added into the mix. The monstrous instrumentation builds up until around the fifteen-minute mark where everything that has been established collapses in on itself. From the ashes of this climax, rise a set of bells very reminiscent of “Kristen Supine” off of “To Be Kind.”
This is the first time - out of two or three more throughout the record - where I feel like I’m listening to a rehash of that album that I’ve already mentioned so many times before. In a vacuum, “The Glowing Man” is absolutely fantastic. But in the context Swans’ recent output, I feel like it’s just more of the same. Maybe it’s a good thing that this is the last record from ”Swans' current incarnation," the last thing I want this band to do is stagnate.
The next track, “The World Looks Red/The World Looks Black,” repurposes lyrics that Michael Gira had written for a song that found its way onto Sonic Youth’s debut album. It’s nice to see that Gira still respects where his band came from and his relationship with fellow no wave bands.
“People Like Us” is the album’s shortest track and one of the more accessible cuts. Instrumentally, it’s fairly minimal by Swans’ standards, and it serves as a nice interlude between the more harrowing tracks on the record.
The first single released from “The Glowing Man” is “When Will I Return.” This song features lead vocals from Michael Gira’s wife, Jennifer. She sings from the point of view of the victim of some sort of physical assault, accompanied by more slow strumming from Mr. Gira. The slow crescendo in the background of this track beautifully leads to climax of both Giras singing together with the addition of a hypnotic organ. This is by far the standout track on this record and demonstrates that the band is capable of evolving and changing up “To Be Kind’s” sound into something truly unique.
The closing track on this album, “Finally, Peace,” is a fairly upbeat march through mind of Michael Gira. To me, the title is a nod to the the end of Swan’s “current incarnation.” Perhaps the next Swans album will mark a monumental sound change to something less chaotic, possibly something more akin to Gira’s side project, Angels of Light.
In the end, Swans put out another great album. Although lacking much to differentiate it from their past releases and some of the aggression and loudness of TBK or “The Seer,” “The Glowing Man” is extremely listenable and may be the best way for the band’s current lineup to dissolve.
Swans - The Glowing Man
1. Cloud of Forgetting
2. Cloud of Unknowing
3. The World Looks Red / The World Looks Black
4. People Like Us
5. Frankie M.
6. When Will I Return
7. The Glowing Man
8. Finally, Peace
