Swans

The evolution of Swans from scuzzy noise rockers to transcendent experimentalists is unlike that of any other band in the history of the American underground. When New York multi-instrumentalist Michael Gira started Swans in 1981, they brandished cacophony like a weapon. Their performances became notorious for assaultive volumes and onstage violence. Meanwhile, albums like 1983’s Filth and 1984’s Cop shaped noise rock and avant-metal thanks to their marriage of no-wave dissonance and industrial pummel with transgressive lyrics. The addition of singer and keyboardist Jarboe Devereaux as a full-time member in 1986 signaled their pivot toward more musical, though no less uncompromising, sounds. Goth, neo-folk, blues, and even ambient music informed their increasingly expansive recordings before their first dissolution in 1997. Gira would focus on the folky Angels of Light and his Young God label before putting together a new configuration of Swans from 2010 to 2017. This version nearly achieved mainstream success thanks to records like The Seer that pour the brutal catharsis of ’80s Swans into darkly majestic compositions. But in 2019 the always restless Gira unveiled yet another new lineup and sound on the art-rock-informed Leaving Meaning.