It's Coming, It's Real

It's been a good year for music and our good fortunes were recently improved with the announcement that the new Swans album, leaving meaning., is set for release on October 25th. Meanwhile, they've leaked the first single, It's Coming It's Real, which features backing vocals by Anna von Hausswolff and her sister, Maria.  Friendly reminder that we selected von Hausswolff's The Mysterious Vanishing of Electra as one of the two best songs of 2018 (she shared the honor with Lonnie Holley).

We'd heard that frontman Michael Gira was collaborating with von Hausswolff for the reconstituted Swans, but this is our first taste of just what that collaboration might sound like.  It's Coming It's Real is a surprisingly restrained song, at least by Swans standards, with the von Hausswolff sisters cooing behind Gira's baritone vocal, but the song slowly builds in intensity in the outro, hinting at the tectonic intensity the band has at its disposal.

Describing the von Hausswolff sisters, Swans' frontman Michael Gira wrote, "Anna is blessed with a soaring voice, lyrical acuity and increasing facility with the church organ. I was impressed recently to learn that she often travels around Europe and visits churches unannounced, where she talks her way into being allowed to use the resident organ – some of them rather massive, I imagine – and plays and explores for hours. Her searing records and live shows reflect the courage of her imagination and have garnered her increasing, much deserved recognition. Maria is an accomplished Swedish cinematographer and director of photography. In 2017 I heard Anna and Maria singing together at a sound check for a special song they were doing in Anna’s set, was instantly enthralled, and resolved at that moment to ask them to participate together on a Swans recording. I’m delighted they agreed to come to Berlin and record for me. They were a joy to work with! They live in Scandinavia."

Swans will tour in 2020.