On Dec. 2nd, legendary American band Swans played at the club B90. Their work was always associated with sound experiments and it is impossible to categorize it. Swans presented in Gdańsk nearly three-hour gig and the music that flowed from the stage almost crushed the audience by its heaviness but at the same time it was hypnotizing. Many people came to see the Swans and among them you could find loyal fans of band as well as the people who are open to musical exploration.

Michael Gira founded Swans in 1982 and from the beginning he was the central part of band. For many years a second pillar of Swans was singer Jarboe, who was also Gira’s lifemate. After their breakup in 1997 Gira decided to end the group. First albums of the Swans from the ‘80s were filled with experimental sounds of no wave, industrial and noise. Later in their music appeared more elements of post-rock or ambient. After thirteen years of break Michael Gira announced the reactivation with new musicians. In 2010 album "My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky" was released. Next albums "The Seer" (2012)  "To Be Kind" (2014) got excellent reviews and thanks to them band gained new fans.

Swans played several times in Poland, for example at this year’s Unsound Festival (Krakow). Band didn’t play first time in Gdańsk because they played in this city before in the ‘80s. In 2011 concert which was planned at the Gdańsk Shipyard areas was cancelled. In an interview for the Noise Magazine Michael Gira said that for him tracks are only base and during concerts undergo further evolutions. He also annouced that at concercts you can expect mainly new material and only few songs from last albums. And so it was.

Swans began their concert at 21:00. Thor Harris appeared first on stage and started playing gong. After few minutes Phil Puleo and Christoph Hahn joined him. At 21:15 all the other musicians and Michael Gira came out. He was enthusiastically greeted by the audience. Monumental composition "Frankie M" lasted nearly 50 minutes. After this track band played "A Little God In My Hands" from "To Be Kind". During the first track the audience was attacked by an avalanche of heavy sounds which later became only more intensive. The noise was almost like a knock out. Though this was madness, yet there was method in it and every sound seemed to be in the right place. Artistic skills of all musicians made a big impression. They were focused on music and their instruments. Michel Gira was madly waving his arms and he looked like he was in a trance.

During the concert Thor Harris played also trombone, tubular bells and electric violin. Almost 3-hour concert was finished by tracks "Bring the Sun/Black Hole Man". They were perfect culmination of the show. During the gig there was small incident. Too enthusiastic guy was trying to enter the stage and Michael Gira expressed his dissatisfaction with harsh words. When it didn’t work he threatened that Swans breaks the concert. Fortunately it helped. Despite the fact that Swans can be hard to listen, they are band which is worth to see and hear live. During the concert heavy and disturbing music of the Swans is animated in a new and stunning way.

The role of a support act on this evening was played by 3FoNIA. This is one-man project created by double bassist and composer Jacek Mazurkiewicz. Artist processes sounds of traditional instrument and combines it with heavy electronics. The result is an interesting and it combines concrete and experimental music and ambient. Mazurkiewicz during his shows records official bootlegs on tapes. Short gig surely encoured many people to take a closer look at 3FoNIA’s works.

Author: MoeMuhovitz
Translator: MoeMuhovitz
Add date: 2014-12-04 / Live reports