Interview: Swans crafts “total experience” on double album The Seer

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Swans: The SeerSwans: The Seer (Young God, 8/28/12)

“The Apostate” (edit)

Swans: “The Apostate” (edit)

The Seer, the new double album that follows Swans’ productive 2010 reunion and studio return, is a space in which to wander in furious mediation — as songwriter Michael Gira puts it, a “total experience.” Dense without losing immediacy, the album stretches over two hours of constantly shifting aural landscapes. This is a work to be enjoyed second by second, losing your mind to its deceptive repetitions.

Fire on Fire

Fire On Fire: Starting Over

Out of the ashes of “art-punk-prog-chaos” sextet Cerberus Shoal, the tortured, backwoods folk hymns of Fire On Fire were born, marking a new beginning for a tour-battered bunch.