Swans Announce Leaving Meaning for October 2019 Release, First Album Since Lineup Dissolution

Influential post-rock band Swan will be releasing their first album since the band’s main figure, Michael Gira dissolved the band’s last lineup, entitled Leaving Meaning. The project will be released on October 25th via Young God/Mute Records.

A new uplifting, yet heavily experimental track entitled “It’s Coming It’s Real,” has been released, blending elements of choir vocals, classic acoustic guitar , and piano riffs, creating an eclectic mix of sounds. This idea stays true to the lyric driven themes, that Gira hinted at last year.

The album features Gira on vocals, words, acoustic/electric guitar, production, Kristof Hahn on lap steel, various guitars throughout, backing vocals, Larry Mullins on drums, vibes, orchestral percussion, Mellotron, various keyboards, backing vocals, Yoyo Röhm on electric bass, double bass, various keyboards, piano, backing vocals, Ben Frost on guitar, synthesizers, sound manipulations, Jeremy Barnes on santur, hi-hat, fiddlesticks, accordion, engineering, Heather Trost on stroh violin, violin, viola, fiddlesticks, engineering Anna and Maria von Hausswolff on choral backing vocals, Baby Dee as lead vocalist on “The Nub” and The Necks band members: Chris Abrahams on piano and organ, Tony Buck on drums and percussion and Lloyd Swanton on double bass.

“Leaving Meaning is the first Swans album to be released since I dissolved the lineup of musicians that constituted Swans from 2010 – 2017,” Gira stated in a press release. “Swans is now comprised of a revolving cast of musicians, selected for both their musical and personal character, chosen according to what I intuit best suits the atmosphere in which I’d like to see the songs I’ve written presented. In collaboration with me, the musicians, through their personality, skill and taste, contribute greatly to the arrangement of the material. They’re all people whose work I admire and whose company I personally enjoy.”

A limited handmade CD release featuring acoustic versions of each of these songs has also been released. They can be listed to online here.

Leaving Meaning:

1. Humsz
2. Annaline
3. The Hanging Man
4. Amnesia – with Anna and Maria von Hausswolff on backing vocals
5. Leaving Meaning – feat.The Necks
6. Sunfucker – with Anna and Maria von Hausswolff on backing vocals
7. Cathedrals of Heaven
8. The Nub – with Baby Dee on guest vocals, also feat. The Necks
9. It’s Coming It’s Real – feat. Anna and Maria von Hausswolff on backing vocals
10. Some New Things – digital / CD only
11. What Is This
12. My Phantom Limb

Photo Credit: Raymond Flotat