Swans – To Be Kind

May 13, 2014 • Young God Records

Is there such a thing as too much Swans? Am I getting burned out already? I feel like we were just getting over the double-disc monstrosity of The Seer and suddenly here comes another double-disc monstrosity in To Be Kind. It's almost more than I can wrap my head around. If it makes things easier, just think of this as The Seer Part II—two more discs of similar insanity from one of the most legendary groups around today. If you liked that one, you'll definitely be into this one. (In fact, re-reading my review for The Seer, just about everything I said there can be applied here as well—they even brought back that almost-hip-hop sound for "A Little God in My Hands".) I'm into it, at least, though it took a while to hit me.

As with The Seer, To Be Kind is another screeching post-punk / experimental rock / post-rock / Glenn Branca fusion, thriving on repetition and buildup and landing squarely out in left field. Motorik drumming with some meandering, chaotic guitar lines and Gira's ritualistic vocals make for a numbing and often cathartic experience, as to be expected, especially when the band winds down into another one of its bizarre sound collages. The aesthetics on this album can be pretty great; as an example I especially like how "Just a Little Boy" opens with its atmospheric droning country sound, like newer Earth with additional psychedelic haze. But on the whole this seems like it's pretty heavy for modern Swans—obviously we haven't regressed back to their gut-wrenching noise rock / no wave days, but things get intense now and again. They make great use of some extra instruments like piano, strings, unconventional percussion, and something that sounds like a droning sitar in "Bring the Sun", along with some interesting sample work (sawing? who does that?).

Since their reunion, I think Swans have settled into a groove and gotten comfortable—maybe too comfortable. Their older albums were an amazing collection of some of the most diverse output you could ask for from a single band, from industrial to noise rock to ambient drone and post-rock to gothic country. But the last three albums have seemed to me to all be very similar, relatively speaking. And of course if you like their current style that's a great thing. Personally I am still digging their music so I'm not going to complain too much about a lack of innovation—but, you know, another two-hour album? It's fine, really, but you'd better set aside plenty of time for digesting this thing. To Be Kind could easily be split into three or four albums that'd stand fine on their own. Then again, it's not like Swans have to prove anything to anybody and they're clearly in a position to just do whatever the hell they want; I suppose I ought to sit back and let them.

I'll say this, though: They've definitely improved over The Seer (that, or I'm just in a better frame of mind). Though they are definitely still very repetitive, they do a better job of making this work to their advantage. There's a lot of post-rock-style buildup, which when mixed with the heavier post-punk instrumentation really clicks well and can really draw me in as a listener. It doesn't always work, but when it does, it works fantastically well. "Bring the Sun / Toussaint L'Ouverture" is a prime example; I initially balked at its half-hour runtime but it wound up becoming this epic progression into a thundering wall of sound reminiscent of the good old Godspeed You! Black Emperor days. Still, there is no reason for some of these tracks to be as long as they are and I find myself getting a bit impatient quite a few times. But that's me. I'm very picky. Maybe the fault lies with the fact that I always insist on listening to albums in their entirety straight through, and that's tough to do in cases like this.

Anyway. Even if you are into Swans like I am this is an album that takes time to grow on you, and it's not always easy to listen to. It's nowhere near a perfect album, and I'm not sure Swans are capable of making anything close to a perfect album, but it definitely ranks near the top of their discography so far. Let's hope they can keep the momentum up without burning out themselves.