Art Rock Show – The Beggar (Week 44)
De New Yorkse rockband Swans maakte deel uit van de oorspronkelijke No Wave-scene aan het begin van de jaren 80 en is sindsdien uitgegroeid tot een van de meest gerespecteerde experimentele rockgroepen van dit moment. Onder leiding van de visionaire zanger, multi-instrumentalist en songwriter Michael Gira.
The Guardian review: “However, their 16th album shows that the old intensity hasn’t deserted them, it just comes in different forms, as suggested by opener The Parasite, which builds from a gentle acoustic guitar to a cacophony of quiet noise.
Written in what Gira calls the “strange disorientation” of lockdown, the prevailing atmosphere on The Beggar is one of unsettling, claustrophobic unease, as the drawling 69-year-old contemplates life and mortality. “Am I ready to die?” he asks on the naggingly hypnotic Paradise is Mine, reversing the question for the ominous title track to wonder: “When will I finally learn to live?”… Read more...
