swans - seer

Swans

Seer
Young God ;2012

4.5 out of 5

In 1997 when the Swans originally broke up, I thought they finished at a peak with powerful Soundtracks for the Blind and live album The Swans are Dead (two of my all time favorite Swans albums). In the years since then I've occasionally listened to Gira's new project Angels of Light, and while I liked it, it never matched the magnificence of the Swans album. So in 2010 when I learned that Gira was making music under his Swans band name again, I was excited but also worried, so many reunion albums are disappointing. My Father was an okay album, but it also felt much like a hybrid Angels of Light / Swans album, which was okay but it was too short and didn't match up to the better Swans albums.

With the Seer everything has changed. This one seems to be a move forward to something new yet reminiscent of the beautiful Soundtracks. There is no concern with this album being commercial (not that any Swans album was), but instead it has long sections of dronish buildup and long intros before something happens. Its challenging yet amazing, if one loves the Soundtracks for the Blind era this album is a must buy (its also more cohesive than Soundtracks). In my opinion this is the movement forward that I was hoping for when I saw the Swans were being reformed, a beautiful work.