The Seer (Swans album)

The Seer is the twelfth studio album by American experimental rock band Swans and was released on August 28, 2012 by Gira's own record label Young God Records. Producer and frontman Michael Gira funded the recording of the album with the sales of We Rose from Your Bed with the Sun in Our Head.

The Seer
Studio album by
Swans
ReleasedAugust 28, 2012 (2012-08-28)
Recorded2011
StudioStudio P4 (Berlin)
Andere Baustelle (Berlin)
Marcata Studio (Gardiner, NY)
Trout Recording (Brooklyn, NY)
Genre
Length119:13
LanguageEnglish
LabelYoung God
ProducerMichael Gira
Swans chronology
We Rose from Your Bed with the Sun in Our Head
(2012)		 The Seer
(2012)		 Not Here / Not Now
(2013)

While the previous studio album My Father Will Guide Me up a Rope to the Sky was seen as a cross between Gira's solo project Angels of Light and late Swans, The Seer strayed away from Angels of Light's more accessible songs and lyricism, focusing more around sonic landscapes. The album features a variety of instrumentation and guest musicians, including the post-punk band Yeah Yeah Yeahs vocalist Karen O and former Swans member Jarboe. The album is noteworthy due to its extended song lengths, particularly its over thirty minute title track, as well as its frequent experimentation with drone and noise elements. The album garnered critical acclaim from mainstream publications and appeared in publications' best of the year album lists.

Background

The album was funded with the sales of the live double album We Rose from Your Bed with the Sun in Our Head as frontman Michael Gira stated that the rise of internet piracy caused a need to fund records in this fashion.[6] He described the album as taking "30 years to make" and is "the culmination of every previous Swans album as well as any other music I've ever made."[7] Describing the songwriting process, Gira said, "The songs began on an acoustic guitar, then were fleshed out with (invaluable) help from my friends, then were further tortured and seduced in the studio, and now they await further cannibalism and force-feeding as we prepare to perform some of them live, at which point they'll mutate further, endlessly, or perhaps be discarded for a while." The songs "93 Ave. B Blues," "The Seer," "The Apostate," and "Avatar" were developed during tours and rehearsals while the rest of the songs were created in the studio.[7] While their previous effort was seen as a continuation of Gira's folk solo project Angels of Light mixed with Swans' original elements, Gira stated that The Seer was more focused as a Swans effort due to touring.[8]

The band started recording in Berlin after a hiatus during touring as Gira wanted to get it done while they were a live band.[9] After a year of touring, they recorded in New York while Gira spent the next five months doing overdubs and fleshing out songs written on his acoustic guitar.[9] While Gira sings on the majority of the songs, he enlisted Karen O to assist with singing "Song for a Warrior" because Gira believed that "Since the song is like a country lullaby, I thought it would be appropriate for a female. Chris [Pravdica, Swans' bass player] pointed me to a few of Karen's solo works where she sings in this really gentle, compassionate, soulful way."[6] Former Swans member Jarboe also made an appearance on the album once Gira met her after an Atlanta tour as he needed "some female vocals doing these kind of drone chords."[6] The name of the album and title track came from Swans performing the title track multiple times instrumentally until Gira soon sang, "I see it all, I see it all," which he thought fit the music.[9] The artwork from the album was based on a tempera wolf painting by Simon Henwood and featured Gira's teeth on the wolf.[6]

Critical reception
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
AnyDecentMusic?8.3/10[10]
Metacritic87/100[11]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[12]
The A.V. ClubA[13]
The Guardian[14]
The Independent[15]
Mojo[16]
The New Zealand Herald[17]
NME8/10[18]
Pitchfork9.0/10[19]
Rolling Stone[20]
Spin8/10[21]

Upon its release, The Seer was widely praised by music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from critics, the album received an average score of 87, based on 32 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[11] Writing for Rolling Stone, Will Hermes called the album Swans' "grandest statement yet" and described the title track as "a season in hell, and then some."[20] Also describing the title track, Jason Heller of The A.V. Club wrote, "It's the most harrowing, exhausting, cathartic, transcendental piece of music Gira has ever put to tape."[13] Thom Jurek of AllMusic described The Seer as "the most sprawling, ambitious, thoughtfully conceived and tightly performed recording in the band's catalog."[12] The Guardian's Dave Simpson wrote that the album "won't be for everybody, but deserves to win new converts."[14]

Several music criticism websites included The Seer on their lists of the best albums of 2012. Stereogum ranked the album at fourth in their top 50 albums.[22] Pitchfork ranked it at fifth, with writer Stuart Berman writing that The Seer "evinces a magisterial grandeur and hypnotic allure, elevating Swans’ seedy, sewer-scraping depravity into an extravagant, cinematically scaled noise."[23] Sputnikmusic staff member SowingSeason said that The Seer "could be the best album of Michael Gira's thirty year career" and was the best of 2012.[24] The A.V. Club staff ranked the album seventh in their best of 2012 list and stated that "Gira did the seemingly impossible and topped [My Father], however, with the Seer".[25] Commercially, the album peaked at number 114 on the Billboard 200 and at number 22 on the Independent Albums chart.[26][27]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Michael Gira, unless noted.

Disc one
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Lunacy" (featuring Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker) 6:09
2."Mother of the World" 9:57
3."The Wolf"Gira, Christoph Hahn, Thor Harris, Christopher Pravdica, Phil Puleo, Norman Westberg1:35
4."The Seer" 32:14
5."The Seer Returns" (featuring Jarboe)Gira, Hahn, Harris, Pravdica, Puleo, Westberg6:17
6."93 Ave. Blues" 5:21
7."The Daughter Brings the Water" 2:40
Total length:64:10
Disc two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
8."Song for a Warrior" (featuring Karen O) 3:58
9."Avatar"Gira, Hahn, Harris, Pravdica, Puleo, Westberg8:51
10."A Piece of the Sky" (featuring Jarboe and Akron/Family) 19:10
11."The Apostate"Gira, Hahn, Harris, Pravdica, Puleo, Westberg23:01
Total length:54:56

The album featured a different track order for its vinyl release.

Vinyl LP track listing (Side one)
No.TitleLength
1."Lunacy" (featuring Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker)6:07
2."The Apostate Pt. 1"13:18
Vinyl LP track listing (Side two)
No.TitleLength
3."The Apostate Pt. 2"9:36
4."A Piece of the Sky Pt. 1" (featuring Jarboe and Akron/Family)9:36
Vinyl LP track listing (Side three)
No.TitleLength
5."A Piece of the Sky Pt. 2" (featuring Jarboe and Akron/Family)9:30
6."93 Ave. B Blues"5:22
7."The Daughter Brings the Water"2:33
8."Song for a Warrior" (featuring Karen O)3:58
Vinyl LP track listing (Side four)
No.TitleLength
9."Mother of the World"9:59
10."Avatar"8:49
Vinyl LP track listing (Side five)
No.TitleLength
11."The Wolf"1:35
12."The Seer Pt 1"18:56
Vinyl LP track listing (Side six)
No.TitleLength
13."The Seer Pt 2"13:17
14."The Seer Returns" (featuring Jarboe)6:15
Bonus live 2010/2011 DVD track listing
No.TitleLength
1."No Words/No Thoughts"18:50
2."Avatar"10:36
3."The Apostate"19:36
4."Beautiful Child (fragment)"3:43
5."Jim"8:16
6."Sex God Sex"7:13
7."The Seer / I Crawled"32:16

Personnel

Adapted from Gira's Young God Records website.[7]

Swans

Guests

  • Bill Rieflin – piano, organ, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, drums, percussion, Casio, synthesizer, bass guitar, additional vocals, bird idea; credited as "honorary Swan"
  • Karen O – lead vocals on "Song for a Warrior"
  • Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker – co-vocals on "Lunacy"
  • Jarboe – backing vocals on "The Seer Returns" and "A Piece of the Sky", voice collage on "A Piece of the Sky"
  • Seth Olinsky, Miles Seaton, and Dana Janssen – background vocals on "A Piece of the Sky"
  • Caleb Mulkerin and Colleen Kinsella – accordion, additional vocals, dulcimer, guitar, piano and other instruments on "The Seer Returns"
  • Sean Mackowiak – acoustic and electric mandolin, clarinet
  • Ben Frost – fire sounds (acoustic and synthetic) on "A Piece of the Sky"
  • Iain Graham – bagpipes on "The Seer"
  • Bruce Lamont – horns on "The Seer"
  • Bob Rutman – steel cello on "The Seer"
  • Cassis Staudt – accordion
  • Eszter Balint – violin
  • Jane Scarpantoni – cello
  • Kevin McMahon – additional drums on "The Seer Returns" and "Avatar", additional guitars on "Song for a Warrior" and "Avatar"
  • Bryce Goggin – piano on "Song for a Warrior"
  • Bill Tobin – Oboe on “Avatar”
  • Stefan Rocke – contrabassoon on "The Seer"

Technical personnel

  • Michael Gira – producing
  • Kevin McMahon – engineering, mixing
  • Macro and Boris – engineering assistants of Kevin McMahon
  • Bryce Goggin – engineering
  • Adam Sachs – engineering assistant of Bruce Goggin
  • Doug Henderson – mastering
  • Jamal Ruhe – pre-mastering
  • Simon Henwood – artwork

Charts
Chart (2012) Peak
position
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[28] 113
UK Albums (OCC)[29] 167
US Billboard 200[26] 114
US Independent Albums (Billboard)[27] 22
US Top Alternative Albums (Billboard)[30] 24
US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)[31] 35

References
  1. Larson, Jeremy D. (August 30, 2012). "Swans – The Seer". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved April 16, 2015.
  2. Tudor, Alexander (August 20, 2012). "Album Review: Swans – The Seer". Drowned in Sound. Retrieved March 10, 2013.
  3. Reed, Ryan (August 28, 2012). "Swans: The Seer". Paste. Retrieved April 16, 2015.
  4. Lariviere, Aaron (November 9, 2012). "Swans Albums From Worst To Best". Stereogum. Retrieved April 16, 2015.
  5. Terich, Jeff (May 27, 2015). "Swans : Filth (Deluxe Edition)". Treble. Retrieved July 31, 2020.
  6. Stosuy, Brandon (August 24, 2012). "Interviews: Swans". Pitchfork. Retrieved May 20, 2015.
  7. "SWANS – The Seer". Young God Records. Retrieved June 28, 2013.
  8. Ramos-Ramos, Héctor. "Speaking with Swans". Perfect Sound Forever. Retrieved May 22, 2015.
  9. Spencer, Matt (August 27, 2012). "The Seer Returns". PopMatters. Retrieved May 23, 2015.
  10. "The Seer by Swans reviews". AnyDecentMusic?. Retrieved December 22, 2019.
  11. "Reviews for The Seer by Swans". Metacritic. Retrieved September 16, 2012.
  12. Jurek, Thom. "The Seer – Swans". AllMusic. Retrieved August 28, 2012.
  13. Heller, Jason (September 18, 2012). "Swans: The Seer". The A.V. Club. Retrieved September 18, 2012.
  14. Simpson, Dave (August 23, 2012). "Swans: The Seer – review". The Guardian. Retrieved August 26, 2012.
  15. Harley, Kevin (August 26, 2012). "Album: Swans, The Seer (Young God)". The Independent. Archived from the original on August 28, 2012. Retrieved April 23, 2016.
  16. "Swans: The Seer". Mojo (226): 94. September 2012.
  17. Kara, Scott (October 19, 2012). "Album review: Swans – The Seer". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved April 23, 2016.
  18. Denney, Alex (August 24, 2012). "Swans – 'The Seer'". NME. Archived from the original on April 25, 2016. Retrieved April 23, 2016.
  19. Powell, Mike (August 27, 2012). "Swans: The Seer". Pitchfork. Retrieved August 27, 2012.
  20. Hermes, Will (September 10, 2012). "The Seer". Rolling Stone. Retrieved September 10, 2012.
  21. Weingarten, Christopher R. (August 27, 2012). "Swans, The Seer (Young God)". Spin. Retrieved August 27, 2012.
  22. "Stereogum's Top 50 Albums Of 2012". Stereogum. December 5, 2012. Retrieved December 5, 2012.
  23. "Staff Lists: The Top 50 Albums of 2012". Pitchfork. December 20, 2012. Retrieved December 20, 2012.
  24. "Staff's Top 50 Albums of 2012: 10 – 1". Sputnikmusic. January 4, 2013. Retrieved January 4, 2013.
  25. "The best music of 2012". The A.V. Club. December 11, 2012. Retrieved May 26, 2015.
  26. "Swans Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved May 15, 2016.
  27. "Swans Chart History (Independent Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved May 15, 2016.
  28. "Ultratop.be – Swans – The Seer" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved May 15, 2016.
  29. "Chart Log UK – 2012 + Weekly Updates + Sales 2012". Zobbel.de. Retrieved April 8, 2013.
  30. "Swans Chart History (Top Alternative Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved May 15, 2016.
  31. "Swans Chart History (Top Rock Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved May 15, 2016.
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