“I know itap Monday night,” said a grinning Michael Gira, the force that is , well into the third hour of his band’s set at the last night. “Could you handle just one more song?”
The audience screamed in approval, despite lessons learned in the previous two hours, which produced only a small handful of punishing and drawn out pieces. That last indulgence lasted easily another half hour, but the fans craved another dose of cathartic brutality, more beauty-through-crushing volume.
And they got it.
Gira’s latest incarnation of Swans played just under three hours on Monday, with a grand total of about 10 songs. It might as well have been one, or 20 (the continuum was key). The set began with an upward-spiraling intro, accompanied by Gira’s body in swaying crucifixion, singing “There are millions of stars in your eyes.”
The band followed shortly after with “Avatar,” from the new record “The Seer,” which eventually built to a crescendo that crushed rib cages while vibrating bones (in decibels). Afterwards, Gira blew kisses to the audience members and told them that they were “much more beautiful than I could have ever imagined.”
Later, the band played “Coward,” a classic from 1986’s “Greed/Holy Money.” It was evident that whatever Gira and Swans had lost after their last release, 1996’s “Soundtracks for the Blind,” they had found something even more significant to replace it.
The onslaught made it hard to identify individual pieces, but it didn’t really matter. The record may as well have been non-existent. The album, and most Swans studio efforts, are like Andy Warhol’s “Disaster Paintings” — static, dead or frozen bits. To really see the violence, you need to be in the maelstrom.
Follow our news and updates on , our whereabouts on and our relationship status on . Or send us a telegram.
Billy Thieme is a Denver-based writer, an old-school punk and a huge follower of Denver’s vibrant local music scene. Follow Billy’s explorations at , and his giglist at .
Michael McGrath is a Denver area photographer. His work is available at . Visit .
