Album of the Week – Swans – Birthing
Staff Review
Birthing is the 17th studio album from Swans, Michael Gira’s ever-evolving band. Known in their initial 1981-1997 run for traversing no wave, post-punk, industrial, folk, goth, and noise-rock, the band’s post-2010 output including The Seer and To Be Kind marked a period of colossal, uncompromising experimentation. Recent releases suggested a slowing down, but Birthing feels like a revelation, a return to the world-building, transcendental sound-sculpting that Swans do better than anyone. Gira, now 71, has said this will be the last album of its kind, and it plays like a grand farewell.
Spanning three LPs or two CDs, its seven tracks stretch across nearly two hours, averaging 16 minutes each. This is immersive, spiritual rock ‘n’ roll. Part sermon, part ritual, part devastation. Opener The Healers delivers a 21-minute descent into apocalyptic noise, while I Am A Tower builds from spectral ambience to euphoric release in a rare moment of accessibility. The title track blends ambient soundscapes, trance-like jams, and piano-led intimacy, evoking echoes of Jim Morrison with cosmic scale.
Throughout Birthing the band draw on their vast sonic history, yet frequently pushes beyond it. From the foreboding lurch of Guardian Spirit to the industrial-folk swirl of The Merge, and the transcendent finale (Rope) Away, this is Swans at their most expansive. If this really is the end of an era, Birthing is a towering, mythic, and deeply affecting final chapter from one of the most ambitious and uncompromising bands in modern music.
Swans return with Birthing, the latest album, developed over the course of a yearlong 2023–2024 tour. Birthing is released via Mute and Young God Records. The initial pressings of the deluxe vinyl and CD include a bonus DVD featuring Swans Live 2024 (Rope) The Beggar, a concert film by Marco Porsia documenting the band’s most recent US tour. The DVD also includes I Wonder If I’m Singing What You’re Thinking Me To Sing, a documentary by Christopher Nicholson following Michael Gira’s 2022 solo tour.
Refined through relentless improvisation and live performance, as well as newly composed studio pieces, Birthing is a testament to Michael Gira’s uncompromising sonic vision. Beginning as skeletal acoustic compositions, the songs were
gradually expanded and transformed in the studio with longtime live members and collaborators.
“This album, coupled with the recent live release, Live Rope, constitutes my final foray (as producer / impresario) into the all-consuming sound worlds that have been my obsession for years. We’ll do a final tour in this mode towards the end of 2025,
then that’s it. After that, Swans will continue, so long as I’m able, but in a significantly pared down form. Hints of that direction can be found in a few moments on the current album. In the meantime, my hope is that the music provides a
positive and fertile atmosphere in which to dream.” – Michael Gira / Swans
Produced by Gira, Birthing was recorded at Soundfabrik Berlin, mixed at Candy Bomber Studio by Ingo Krauss, and mastered by Doug Henderson at Micro-Moose.
