############################### # # # ~~/-SWANS-/~~ # # # ############################### Live at Belgrave Music Hall (Leeds, of the United Kingdom) 2023, August 19 # ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ # TRACKLIST: Disc one: Norman Westberg 01. [Improvisation] Disc two: Swans 02. [Entering] 03. The Beggar 04. The Hanging Man 05. Ebbing 06. The Memorious 07. Cathedrals of Heaven 08. [Preparing] 09. No More of This 10. Cloud of Unknowing / Birthing Titles in square brackets are my own, describing the content therewithin. NOTES: I think that the most crucial element of one's experience of the Swans lies in the decision one makes on entering the venue: achieving the critical balance of safety in the presence of such volume against the required physicality of experiencing Gira's firmamental orchestra can be a difficult decision for anybody. For my first date of The Beggar's tour (my visit to the earlier Manchester date, the planned highlight of my August and the subject of much expensive planning, was foiled by my, er, forgetting to go) I opted to be conservative and position myself dead centre at the back. I liked this position, being poised next to the wonderful Gerry on the sound desk while still, in a tiny space (for Swans, anyway) such as this, not too far from the stage. Also, the entrance to the space was a very large archway behind me, which was worth the constant foot traffic therethrough for the bar for the lack of bass reflecting from a back wall this allowed. That said, it's also the reason my recording of Norman's beautiful and tender set was marred somewhat by bar chatter. Alas. As for the music... as for the music!! It was to no surprise at all that the night delivered an unforgettably powerful ("power" by so many definitions) journey. Excitement was high after the promised set constructed from the past two "Swans 4" albums. While I was disappointed somewhat that my four-year wait for the oh-so-special "The Nub" in the flesh proved empty after a pandemic cancellation and an absence from setlists in this eventual tour, with such a great variety of songs across the albums from which to pick I can hardly complain. Opening with a rework of the title track of the new album, I was stunned (I'm using a lot of dramatic words here. I'm also talking about Swans, mind...) by the new introduction, a bright, beautiful, oh-so-gorgeous single fifteen-minute crescendo that had me all emotional right away. This is something special right here—should it or should it not survive the morphing soup of the Swans live songwriting process, this and other recordings of its gestation through this tour should be treasured. I here limit my discussion of each song, as there are only so many ways one can flail words into one another trying to describe the experience before the permutations wear thin, and I think that I'm on the verge of the pigeonhole principle. I'll leave the heavy repetition to the Swans. Moving from the towering reconstruction of Gira's rich and visceral prose as in "The Memorious", the 2019 cut "Cathedrals of Heaven" saw itself birthed anew in a way that stood out especially. Where I found the original an impressive example of Gira's songwriting moving to a place of being able to write mature crescendo without needing the tool of volume, this reïmagining smacked me in the face reminding me of just how effective that older volume-aware approach can still be. The great trunks of force and tension, the old and the new, both here now twisted and climbed their way to crescendo beyond all, feeding inextricably from one another to grow as an organism greater than either could have before. Wow! The collective built a whole cathedral in that small upstairs hall in Leeds, and I am so very thankful. To speak of organisms, I think that the image that will persist with me far beyond others from that night will be the image not of Gira the songwriter but of Gira the conductor. Those familiar with Swans will very much understand his role in this sense. I was already riding the high of, after having avoided setlists for the tour, seeing the Swans 3 work "Cloud of Unknowing" reäppear from its grave—a joy similar to that I experienced when hearing the same occurrence in the new album. However, as this section reached its climax, approaching the new work "Birthing" (which itself made me feel as if I was in a stuffy Dutch hall in 1997 afore 2023's Gira and company,) I don't think that I'll quickly forget Gira throwing himself backwards and forwards, using his hands to reach into the guts of Mullins, Schechter, and Hahn and rhythmically rip out the almighty wails of the creature at its apex, impelling this great salute. So many other artists have been rightly inspired by the Swans and attempted, especially since the 2010 reformation, to capture the same magic. I earnestly love all that the inspired have done. However, to stand before the Swans it's quite clear that there never have been and never will be an artist like this: it's just so evident when one qualitatively experiences them perform that Swans isn't the writer, Gira, nor is it the players—it's a six-hearted organism and it's born and died anew every night and I love it so very dearly. # ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ # A SINCERE REQUEST: This is a given for most who listen to this recording, but as the taping community morphs and grows with a younger generation I just want to make the obligatory plea that this tape is treated with respect: +Please feel free to encode this recording however you want for personal use, but PLEASE do not share any lossy forms thereof (including and especially YouTube rips!!). Quality aside, this helps preserve all original information in the recording. +Please don't sell this recording! It's a RoIO, not a bootleg; get tickets to any concert of theirs or buy any one of their astounding in-print live albums if you want to financially support live Swans. +Do feel free to add on to this info file as it's passed around, but please don't modify or remove anything you found in it. +Enjoy!! Aren't Swans great? # ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ # Played by Norman Westberg and Swans, who were, in alphabetical order: Michael Gira, Kristof Hahn, Larry Mullins, Christopher Pravdica, Phil Puleo, and Dana Schechter. Taped by Emily Fleur-Alcorn (me): DR-40X > WAV [16/44.1] > Audacity (level adjustments) > Audition (stereo imagery touchups) > Audacity (tracking, fading) > FLAC [16/44.1]. Untouched files available on request at my e-mail, efa [dot] merrus [at] gmail [dot] com (correct as of 4 September 2023). If you have any other queries then please do get in touch! Artwork is the untouched promotional poster of the concert. You can give the band money here: https://younggodrecords.com/ # ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ # CHECKSUMS (MD5): edd17a909e5aafc89a932408682a5979 *01 - Norman Westberg.flac 952949bea87d23914ce0af50f11e67f3 *02 - [Entering].flac e52edb6ea46227367fcbf0df2ef9bfbb *03 - The Beggar.flac 4faa8286eb58f81e9e9cf6e90812a1b8 *04 - The Hanging Man.flac b66b0cc653e583eff2e5e03f73bf5b56 *05 - Ebbing.flac 2fa3d41cb7f3ae5ebfb79b2e2647a3ac *06 - The Memorious.flac f816673f04a1815b51ef4bfbbf8861eb *07 - Cathedrals of Heaven.flac 69e18367dcb07c703729b88be2d53d1f *08 - [Preparing].flac bd8971365b25533f9c51ba3bb6cedcfb *09 - No More of This.flac 4d3d6e16a2b724eb9ae0487f9e811d2b *10 - Cloud of Unknowing, Birthing.flac f76e644282ecf343380943fdaf317421 *cover.jpeg