The fortification of the Swans’ shelf continues with Young God’s reissue of two early ‘90s studio albums, White Light from the Mouth of Infinity and Love of Life. Finding Michael Gira resetting the course after an anti-climactic major label soiree, both are out now on LP individually and also in a strikingly designed limited edition vinyl/CD box. Ears curious over Swans’ less formidable motion could easily dabble in one of the two, though an entire disc of related extras is likely to spur converts to covet the whole swank package.
Of the assorted angles comprising the subterranean scene of the 1980s, one of the more interesting is the nook populated by the tight-knit (indeed, intermittently overlapping) and stylistically ambitious (oft transgressive, even) gang of post-punk musical leaders. A loosely defined grouping, the principals are post-Birthday Party Nick Cave, Lydia Lunch, J.G. “Foetus” Thirlwell, and the work of Michael Gira.
Michael Azerrad’s tome Our Band Could Be Your Life dishes a hulking amount of info pertaining to the persistently influential success stories springing from the ‘80s underground, but as its title outlines it was concerned with bands, specifically those based in the USA. The abovementioned figures fall outside Azerrad’s terms for various reasons, though geography (New York City), associates (Sonic Youth) and leadership of Swans can make it seem that Gira fits the bill pretty well.
Circa the late ‘80s Swans did register as a band, in fact a shape-shifting unit led by vocalist Gira with a sound gradually heading to the light from the pummeling severity of the era commencing with ‘82’s “Swans” EP and progressing through ‘83’s Filth to reach an apex in the Gira, Norman Westberg (guitar), Harry Crosby (bass), and Roli Mosimann (drums) lineup of ’84’s Cop and “Young God” EP.
Enter vocalist-keyboardist Jarboe and a transitional phase documented on ’86’s Greed and Holy Money and peaking on the following year’s breakthrough Children of God. Combined on 2CD in ’97 with recordings from the Gira-Jarboe side-project Skin/World of Skin, Children of God is the byproduct of a highly fertile period that for a long while marked the culmination of interest by certain sticklers in the halls of Swans fandom.
The contentious covers of Joy Division’s “Love Will Tear Us Apart” sung by Gira and Jarboe cap Swans’ substantial growth and lend a prelude to ‘89’s major label effort (for MCA subsidiary Uni) The Burning World. Co-produced with veteran Downtown NYC bassist and John Zorn cohort Bill Laswell (of Material and Last Exit), it was a sizeable departure into territory fairly described as dark folk-rock.
Often derided but much better than its reputation, The Burning World languishes out of print as the return of White Light from the Mouth of Infinity and Love of Live adds to the frequently extensive and high-quality reissues (e.g. Filth’s 3CD expansion earlier this year) awarded to Swans’ ’82-’97 output by Gira’s Young God label.
The two records have been occasionally synopsized as installments in Gira’s creative rebound and forecast the strong showings of The Great Annihilator in ’95 and the double disc Soundtracks for the Blind in ’96; a lengthy hiatus then transpired. However, the artistry constituting this box set stands perfectly well alone.
And the music surfaced rather quickly given the underperformance of its predecessor, the apparently meager sales of The Burning World resulting in Swans getting axed by Uni. White Light from the Mouth of Infinity appeared on Young God in ’91, Gira calmly entering the realms of self-releasing a few months prior to indie’s storming of the corporate barricades; opening with the vocal sounds of an infant perhaps suggests rebirth as “Better than You” hits more aggressively than anything on the preceding slab, though the folk-inclined ambiance isn’t eradicated but simply matured.
So is the case with Jarboe’s ethereal “Song for Dead Time,” and if The Burning World felt somewhat schizophrenic next to the releases leading up it (this is a debatable observation), the spirited momentum and thick bass undertow of “Power and Sacrifice” and the rhythmically huge “We Will Survive” extend far more naturally from the productivity of ’86-’87.
And if the acerbic arrogance of “Better than You” flirts with the overzealous, it’s more than counterbalanced by the gorgeousness of “Love Will Save You” and the poetic pessimism of “Failure.” Gira’s voice remains as serrated as a saw blade as he tells the tale, and from there “Song of the Sun” is vibrant and energizing while “Miracle of Love” moves from moody beginnings into a forceful second half.
The edgy folk of “Blind” leads into the lush tension of the Jarboe centerpiece “When She Breathes,” which in turn sets up the exquisite instrumental qualities of penultimate track “Why Are We Alive”; the way Gira’s voice enters around two minutes in underscores the likenesses to the dark folk-tinged work of Bill Callahan.
By extension, anybody debating Gira’s impact on indie music’s last quarter century need only absorb closer “The Most Unfortunate Lie,” a glowing multifaceted beauty move that feels roughly a decade ahead of its time; White Light from the Mouth of Infinity’s double LP-span has by and large aged quite well.
The rise in confidence and the desire to nudge personal boundaries is immediately detectable in Love of Life. It sequences a half dozen untitled segue-tracks amongst eleven named numbers beginning with the hard-driving tunefulness of the title cut as the air leans at times toward psychedelia, an aspect informing “The Golden Boy That Was Swallowed by the Sea.” This shouldn’t imply a loosening of focus, for Love of Life sports a considerably tidier duration than White Light, a circumstance largely extending to individual song lengths.
The untitled pieces are mostly effective and the chiming warmth of “The Other Side of the World” and the harder hitting “She Cries (For Spider)” each benefit from Jarboe’s husky-toned naturalness. The Gira-sung “Her” blends acoustic glide, passages of controlled bombast and a curious audio clip seemingly sourced from the late ‘60s and featuring a hippie chick enthusing over the eminent arrival of her friend Charlie (not that one).
“Her” is solid but the anthemic sensibility of “The Sound of Freedom” is one of the album’s highpoints as “Amnesia” nods in a rocking direction through a heavy rhythm and guitar approach. “Identity” plunges into a tweaked winding spiritualism and “In the Eyes of Nature” mixes melody and plod with subtly rising intensity in a distinctly Swansian manner.
For the majority of its running time “God Loves America” examines apocalyptic folk as “No Cure for the Lonely” finds Gira delving into a little doom-laced crooning for Love of Life’s finale. A bit more streamlined than White Light, the LP thrives on concision and reinforces a general sense of consistency as Gira mapped out the latter portion of Swans’ first fifteen year run.
Gira is on the books as detesting The Burning World so it’s doubtful we’ll see it in the racks anytime soon; songs from it are included on ’99’s Various Failures, a 2CD collection also nabbing a bunch of White Light and Love of Life. Compilations can be nice but full reissues are reliably where it’s at, particularly when they corral 18 bonus selections almost totaling feature-film length (it bears noting a percentage is found on disc two of Various Failures).
And there’s enough redundancy (long and short versions of “Love of Life,” long and live versions of “Amnesia,” alternates of “Song for Dead Time” and “Unfortunate Lie”) to insinuate a bone tossed to salivating Swans completists, but upon inspection the program goes down surprisingly smoothly if about 20 minutes too long (akin to White Light’s main weakness). It serves as a fine addendum to a not yet especially lauded segment of Gira’s narrative; the reemergence of White Light from the Mouth of Infinity and Love of Life should counteract lingering neglect.
WHITE LIGHT FROM THE MOUTH OF INFINITY:
B+
LOVE OF LIFE:
A-
BONUS MATERIAL:
B+
GRADED ON A CURVE:
A-
