Swans — The Beggar
After the rewardingly enough- if-slight piece meal/ jumping from genre-to- genre of 2019’s Leaving Meaning. The Beggar seems a more focused/ generally affecting affair- which neatly splits itself into halves. With the first CD taking in nine tracks, and its second just two- with the longer forty-three-minute track nodding back towards the sound-scaping vibes of Micheal Gira’s The Body Lovers / The Body Haters project, but within a Swans setting.
After the amping up & punishing epic-ness of the three double albums- The Seer (2012), To Be Kind( 2014), and The Glowing Man (2016). The band had rather painted themselves into a corner- and Swans kingpin Micheal Gira, wisely decided to dissolve the band as it was. When in 2019 Leaving Meaning appeared, and Gira sounded certainly sonically refreshed & revitalized- it’s just there seemed to be a lack of overarching theme/ identity, which much of best the band's best output had. And while at moments The Beggar does feel like it's looking back to Gira’s past endeavours for inspiration- the already mentioned Body Lovers/The Body Haters , and The Angels Of Light band- it all ties together for an album that’s both emotional & song craft-wise impactful. With Gira aptly adding in slightly new & creative twists ‘n’ turns to the band's signature sound.
As mentioned in my introduction the first CD features nine tracks- with these having runtimes between three and eleven minutes- with the whole CD ebbing 'n' flowing in a most rewarding manner. Things all kick off with “The Parasite” with its pared-back yet steadily strumming ‘n’ shambling blocks of stringed acoustics- all topped with Gira’s darkly rolling at times earthly billowing voice. Some minutes in the instrumentation drops out- leaving Gira repeating ‘come to me, feed on me’- fairly soon his singing voice reappears over a swooning sea of string hoover, guitar simmer, and subtle wavering Greek chorus. Feeling as if we just dropped into a taut, tense, sanity-slowly unfolding Broadway musical number. I'm getting a more earthy & gritty American blue-collar take on the type of thing Scott Walker did in his latter career.
Moving through the first disc we have “Micheal Is Done” which opens with a rapidly fiddling single-string motive, which slowly surrounds itself with glowing hovers and Gira’s chanted mantra vocals. We then drop into a dense instrumental mass of chiming percussion, cleaning waving -yet rising guitar tone, and simple locked drum patterns. Before returning to its open refrain with female vocals joining a forlorn- yet persistent vocal mantra from Gira.
The just over ten-minute title track is one of the more intense, darkly building and at points rather harrowing moments here. It begins with an uneasy ambient simmer- with fixed/ steady galloping clean guitars coming into play with atmospheric chiming tones building, and Gira’s barren voice detailing the subtle unsettling/ parasitic lyrics. With moments of more churning & electric guitar coming into play- with at one point Gira letting out a most troubling yelp/ shout- after he says ‘My love for you will never end’- really goosebump-inducing stuff.
Another one of the highlights on the first disc is “No More Of This”. It opens up all rising-sun country harmonic-like with lush slide edges. As Gira deadpanning warbles out his vocals, as he details- well putting an end to it all. As rising female backing vocals build the lush warming vibe- with of course Gira’s vocals doing the opposite, slipping in lightly chilling lines like ‘now it’s time to pay, there will no bright shining new day’. The track rises to a grand sing-song chorus/ choir end- with Gira over the top saying goodbye to various folk in stark spoken word, turning to earthly humming vocals.
Moving on to the second disc in the set. And this just features two tracks- the epic “ The Beggar(Lover)” which comes in at the forty-three minutes & fifty-one-second mark. And nearing nine minutes of "The Memorious". As I mentioned in my introduction the first track very much brought to mind The Body Lovers / The Body Haters project- but with a Swans layered instrumental feel. I’ve seen some people saying this track is fragment/ no-sensical/doesn't go anywhere. But I found it a wonderful building, shifting, and engaging composition. With Gira & co moving from simmering and strange dark intensity. Onto pressing foreboding and cinematic terror, through to searing bass-bound brood. Through to building grooves, rousing choirs, and beyond. Really, it’s a masterful realized and executed work- there are fleeting elements of spoken word, singing, and bizarre in tongues elements present- but it’s a largely instrumental affair. I really do hope Gira and co do more long-form tracks like this in the future.
The final track on the disc/album "The Memorious" finds a taunting ‘n’ churning riff- edged with a persistent loop of a child crying, rising choral vocals, and Gira’s grimly surreal lyrics. A fine and urgent end to an excellent double disc set!
There are very few bands/projects in their fourth decade who are still willing/ able to experiment & expand on their sound- yet retaining their original mission statement/ focus in a profound and affecting way. But that’s exactly what Swans have managed to do with The Beggar.