The Swans finally announced the details on their new album, The Seer, and their fall 2012 tour dates that will accompany the album.

According to pitchfork.com, Producer Micheal Gira told the Quietus:

The Seer took 30 years to make. It’s the culmination of every previous Swans album as well as any other music I’ve ever made, been involved in or imagined. But it’s unfinished, like the songs themselves. It’s one frame in a reel. The frames blur, blend and will eventually fade. 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.

Track Listing of the Seer:
01. Lunacy
02. Mother of the World
03. The Wolf
04. The Seer
05. The Seer Returns
06. 93 Ave. B Blues
07. The Daughter Brings the Water
08. Song for a Warrior
09. Avatar
10. A Piece of the Sky
11. The Apostate

List of Guest Contributors on the Album:
Alan Sparhawk
Mimi Parker (of Low),
Karen O (of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs)
Akron/Family
Ben Frost
Grasshopper from Mercury Rev
Former Swans member Jarboe

Full Tour Dates: – Buy Tickets to this Tour Here

SWANS North American Tour Dates -A Hawk & Hacksaw as support:
10/10/2012 New York NY Bowery Ballroom
10/11/2012 Boston MA Paradise Rock Club
10/12/2012 Washington DC Black Cat Mainstage
10/13/2012 Philadelphia PA Union Transfer
10/14/2012 Raleigh NC Lincoln Theatre
10/16/2012 Orlando FL The Social
10/17/2012 West Palm Beach FL Respectable Street
10/18/2012 Tallahassee FL Club Downunder
10/19/2012 Atlanta GA Terminal West
10/23/2012 St Louis MO Firebird
10/24/2012 Chicago IL Cabaret Metro
10/25/2012 Toronto ON Lee’s Palace
10/26/2012 Montreal QC La Tulipe

SWANS European Tour Dates – Sir Richard Bishop as support:
11/01/2012 Reykjavik, Iceland Iceland Airways Festival
11/15/2012 London, UK Koko
11/16/2012 Glasgow, UK The Arches
11/17/2012 Manchester, UK Sound Control
11/19/2012 Paris,France Le Trabendo
11/20/2012 Nijmegen, NL Doornroosje
11/21/2012 Haarlem, NL Patronaat
11/22/2012 Hamburg, Germany Kampnagel
11/23/2012 Copenhagen, DK Det Kgl. Danske Konservatories Koncertsal
11/24/2012 Oslo,norway Parkteatret
11/27/2012 Prague, Czech Lucenra Music Bar
11/28/2012 Vienna, austria Arena Big Hall
11/30/2012 Bologna ,Italy Locomotiv
12/2/2012 Kortrijk, Belgium De Kreun- Sunns curator festival
12/3/2012 Bern, C, Reitschule Gross Halle
12/4/2012 Lausanne,CH Les Docks

SWANS North American Tour Dates – Xiu Xiu as support:
9/6/2012 Vancouver BC Venue
9/7/2012 Seattle WA Neumo’s Crystal Ball Reading Room
9/8/2012 Portland OR Hawthorne Theater
9/9/2012 9/10/2012 San Francisco CA The Regency Grand Ballroom
9/11/2012 Los Angeles CA The Music Box
9/12/2012 Phoenix AZ Crescent Ballroom
9/14/2012 Austin TX La Zona Rosa
9/15/2012 Houston TX Fitzgerald’s Upstairs
9/16/2012 Dallas TX Trees
9/18/2012 Oklahoma City OK ACM Performance Lab
9/19/2012 Kansas City MO Beaumont Club
9/20/2012 Lincoln NE Bourbon Theatre
9/21/2012 Minneapolis MN Fineline Music Cafe
9/22/2012 Milwaukee WI Shank Hall
9/24/2012 Denver CO Gothic Theater08/03 – Berlin, DE @ Berghain

Credits:

SWANS:

Michael Gira – voice, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, harmonica, casio, sounds
Norman Westberg – electric guitar, voice
Christoph Hahn – lap steel guitars; electric guitar, voice
Phil Puleo – drums, percussion, hammer dulcimer, voice
Thor Harris – drums, percussion, orchestral bells, hammer dulcimer, handmade violin thing, vibraphone, piano, clarinet, voice
Christopher Pravdica – bass guitar, voice, incredible handshake
Honorary Swan: Bill Rieflin – piano, organ, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, drums, percussion, casio, synthesizer, bass guitar, voice, bird idea….

SPECIAL GUESTS:

Karen O – lead vocal on Song for a Warrior (Karen appears courtesy Interscope Records)
Al and Mimi of Low – co-vocals on Lunacy
Jarboe – backing vocals and voice collage on Piece of the Sky and backing vocals on The Seer Returns
Seth Olinsky, Miles Seaton, Dana Janssen (Akron/Family) – backing vocals on Piece of the Sky
Caleb Mulkerin and Colleen Kinsella of Big Blood – accordion, vocals, dulcimer, guitar, piano and assorted other instruments on the Seer Returns
Sean Mackowiak (the grasshopper) – acoustic and electric mandolins, clarinet, various songs
Ben Frost – fire sounds (acoustic and synthetic) on 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 various songs
Eszter Balint – violin, various songs
Jane Scarpatoni – cello various songs
Kevin McMahon – additional drums on the Seer Returns, electric guitar, sounds on various songs
Bryce Goggin – piano on Song for a Warrior ;Stefan Rocke – contra bassoon on the Seer…

Produced by Michael Gira. Recorded at Studio P4 and Andere Baustelle in Berlin, by Kevin McMahon, assistants Marco and Boris, and at Marcata Studio, Gardiner, NY, by Kevin McMahon.

Additional recording at Trout Recording, Brooklyn, NY, engineer: Bryce Goggin, assistant: Adam Sachs. Mixed by Kevin McMahon at Marcata.
Mastered by Doug Henderson at Micro-Moose Berlin.
Pre-mastering by Jamal Ruhe at West Westside Music…
Artwork: Paintings and Swans photo portraits by Simon Henwood.
Art direction and design: M.Gira.
Layout by Earl Kuck at Revolver.
Photo adjustments by David Clark Perry…

This album is also available as a special edition that includes a Swans Live DVD (at younggodrecords.com and live concerts).

DVD Credits:
Directed, filmed and produced by Simon Henwood and Marco Porsia.
Edited by Marco Porsia.
Additional cameras: Rodney Ascher, Dan Knight, Phi Tidy, Alessandra Romeo.