American experimental rockers Swans will headline at Manchester’s Albert Hall as part of a huge run of European and American tour dates.
The gigs come in support of the legendary band’s highly acclaimed sixteenth studio album The Beggar.
The Beggar was written and produced by Swans‘ founder Michael Gira and includes contributions from recent and former members of swans, members of Angels of Light, and Gest Swan Ben Frost. The album was recorded and mixed in Berlin, engineered by Ingo Krauss and master by Doug Henderson.
Speaking about the album Michael Gira said, “After numerous pandemic-induced cancellations of tours for the previous Swans album leaving meaning, and an apparent bottomless pit of waiting, waiting, waiting, and the strange disorientation that came with this sudden but interminable forced isolation I decided it was time to write songs for a new Swans album and forget about everything else. They came relatively easily, always informed by the suspicion that these could be my last. When I finally was able to travel, songs in hand, to Berlin to work with my friends recording this record, the feeling was akin to the moment in The Wizard of Oz when the film changes from Black and White to Color. Now I’m feeling quite optimistic. My favourite color is pink. I hope you enjoy the album.”
Since founding in New York City in 1982, Swans have never been afraid to experiment with sounds, genres and concepts. They embraced rock, industrial rock, atmospheric sounds, acoustic-based meditations, melodic dense tapestries, sharp edged onslaughts of sound and more before Gira brought a close to 15 years of Swans, instead going solo for 13 years.
In 2010, he reignited the fire that was Swans for the studio album My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky and a world tour, leading to a string of further albums and epics.
When do Swans headline at Manchester’s Albert Hall?
Swans headline at Manchester’s Albert Hall on 12 August 2023.
