Man this one is looooong.
So I finally sat down and decided to listen to the whole thing and man what a journey this one is. Out of all the Swans albums I’ve heard so far I feel like this one takes the most patience to get the most out of but it definetly rewards you for that plenty. An even though it may not be the most action packed album in Swans discography it still has lot to offer – mostly with it’s lyrical themes that are actually really thought-provoking and filled with existentialism in your typical Swans fashion but I feel like Michael Gira took it up another notch with this album. And yeah don’t get me wrong this one DEFINITELY isn’t for anyone, like even I find myself kinda falling out of it at points due to just how incredibly long-winded it can be, but I really appriciate that this album can be besides haunting and depressing also just surprisingly beautiful.
That being said the album opens up with the song „The Parasite“ that has these haunting and mystical guitar plucks over which Gira ponders over various topics until the song divolves into this synthy mess with a repeating sound in the background that sounds kinda twisted like a siren going off in the distance, it’s a chilling opener that leads into the even more chilling „Paradise is Mine“ which is probably like the closest we’ll get to a typical Swans song within this first half, with the instrumental slowly building up until there are these absolutely fantastic guitars brought in that sound really primal and make this whole song feel like it’s just marching towards you but surprisingly the song doesn’t explode into like anything super crazy, it just carries on with this with Gira repeating the chant „is there really a mind?“ and it feels really meditative and ritualistic, I really like this one. The song slowly fades away into the next song „Los Angeles: City of Death“ which is probably the most straight to the point song on this whole album clocking only at around 3 minutes and 30 seconds. Within that relatively short time range the song still manages to leave a pretty strong impressions with these punchy guitars and really catchy melodies and chants, it feels like the next step in the ritual. Next up is a song I originally really wasn’t all that crazy about „Michael is Done“ because it just really wasn’t what I expected. It feels almost like a lullaby for the first few minutes and the big crescendo feels like really beautiful and hopeful, like the shining sun in musical form, it caught me really of guard the first time I heard it but the more I return to this one I grew to enjoy it a lot and actually found it really fitting. „Unforming“, the next song, is more of an interlude than a song really, but it continues the atmosphere and vibe of the album relatively well, but I still could have probably done without it even though it isn’t inherently bad per se. Not much to say about it, although it does serve really well in that it eases the listener out of the vibe of „Michael is Done“ into the next song and also the title track „The Beggar“ which feels really similar to „Paradise is Mine“ in the sense that it slowly builds up with minimal things happening at first with just some bass, distant drums and typical post-rock guitars in the background slowly adding some orchestration elements until the song finally explodes into this final segment that once again is pretty good but still feels relatively tame compared to some other Swans cuts, but it just has this overwhelming energy to it still, once again like ritualistic is probably the best way to describe it, that I really like, even though I understand how it may perhaps not be like that big of a pay-off for many typical Swans listeners. With the next song „No More Of This“ we get this like surprisingly chilled out and really pretty piece of music that has a really similar vibe to „Michael is Done“ but somehow even more happy sounding but still in like a weird twisted way – I’m finding it really hard to explain the aesthethic of this album, because it’s just so unique, but yeah this song is like the prime example of that, I actually kinda like it. It also leads smoothly into the next big song „The Ebbing“ which starts of with just a simple guitar strumming and some ascending and descending keys that feel almost like from some sort of video game, before it all kinda clashes into each other and we once again get this really sunny crescendo, this honestly even more so than the previous two, it’s really punchy really powerful, kinda reminds me of like if the „Bring The Sun“ part of that song from To Be Kind was less like larger than life and more grounded or whatever (look I’m trying my best here, this is music you gotta experience yourself to be honest). The first disc ends with the song „Why Can’t I Have What I Want Any Time That I Want?“ that is actually one of my favorite songs from the first half – the main guitar riff is like strangely mezmerizing and the last two minutes of the song really feel like all of the hope of the previous songs kinda just slipping away – the guitars on here are really trippy and close of the first half in almost prefect fashion. And yeah, obviously the 44 minute song „The Beggar Lover (Three)“ is kinda out of this world. Don’t get me wrong, this one is like the definition of slow but man does it reward you for being patient with it – I was drawing some stuff along side with it and I had like an almost spiritual eperience. It’s one of those tracks that the atmosphere that it builds feels like a whole movie. It undergoes so many phases and feels like the definitive Swans eperience. I mean I could really sit here for hours and talk about how this song alone carries this whole album (because it kinda does in a lot of ways) but you kinda get the picture. I don’t think it’s perfect but it definetly takes you on a journey that much you can’t deny. The closing track „The Memorious“ expands on that perfectly as it feels very final and wraps the whole thing together nicely.
Honestly I really enjoyed this album overall – sure, it isn’t anything close to how explosive Swans usually are, in fact I don’t think there is a single instance of this album going like super crazy explosive, but is still has it’s charm, especially in the lyrics/aesthethic department. I don’t think I’ll be coming back to it anytime soon as it has a very specific atmosphere for a very specific mood but when in the mood for it this album is exceptional at what it tries to do. And yes, I do prefer the I guess more off the wall sound Swans typically strive for the past decade or so, but this was nonetheless still a really nice experience, definitely not for everyone though.
-favorite tracks: The Parasite, Paradise is Mine, Michael is Done, The Beggar, Why Can’t I Have What I Want Any Time That I Want?, The Beggar Lover (Three), The Memorious
-least favorite tracks: Unforming
Decent 8/10