Swans Release New Album 'Birthing'

06-01-2025

Swans have shared a lyric video for "The Healers" to celebrate the release of their seventeenth studio album, Birthing, which just arrived via Young God Records/Mute.

Michael G said of the new album, "The material contained in this album was largely developed over the course of a yearlong Swans tour, during 2023-2024, then recorded and further orchestrated and rearranged in the studio. Two pieces were created and performed in the studio ('Red Yellow,' 'The Merge')."

"In all cases the material began with me sitting in my office with an acoustic guitar, singing and dreaming about what would become of these skeletal songs. I'm blessed to have such a stellar group of musicians to work with live, and through improvisation, endless revisions and an intensity of focus in performance (not to mention endurance), over the course of time the music morphed into what you generally hear on this collection.

"This album, coupled with the recent live release, Live Rope, constitutes my final foray (as producer/impresario) into the all-consuming sound worlds that have been my obsession for years. We'll do a final tour in this mode towards the end of 2025, then that's it.

"After that, Swans will continue, so long as I'm able, but in a significantly pared
down form. Hints of that direction can be found in a few moments on the current
album. In the meantime, my hope is that the music provides a positive and
fertile atmosphere in which to dream."