Swans Leaving Meaning is the band’s fifteenth studio album, the follow up to 2016’s The Glowing Man and due for release by Mute / Young God Records (N America) on 25 October 2019.
Listen below to the first track from the album, “It’s Coming It’s Real“.
Written and produced by Michael Gira, the album features contributions from recent and former Swans, members of Angels of Light as well as Guest Artists Anna and Maria von Hausswolff, Ben Frost, The Necks, Baby Dee, and a Hawk and a Hacksaw.
Michael Gira explains, “Leaving Meaning is the first Swans album to be released since I dissolved the lineup of musicians that constituted Swans from 2010 – 2017. 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.”
Leaving Meaning Tracklisting and artwork:
Hums
Annaline
The Hanging Man
Amnesia – with Anna and Maria von Hausswolff on backing vocals
Leaving Meaning – feat.The Necks
Sunfucker – with Anna and Maria von Hausswolff on backing vocals
Cathedrals of Heaven
The Nub – with Baby Dee on guest vocals, also feat. The Necks
It’s Coming It’s Real – feat. Anna and Maria von Hausswolff on backing vocals
Some New Things – digital / CD only
What Is This
My Phantom Limb
In autumn, Michael Gira will be touring select cities on a solo tour with Norman Westberg. Swans will tour in the spring of 2020.
11 Oct – Skanu Mezs Festival – Riga, Latvia
13 Oct – Saint Petersburg, Russia
15 Oct – Moskva, Russia
18 Oct – Athina, Greece
19 Oct – Thessaloniki, Greece
23 Oct – Ljubljana, Slovenia
25 Oct – Bucharest, Romania
26 Oct – Cluj-napoca, Romania
28 Oct – Warsaw, Poland
29 Oct – Warsaw, Poland
31 Oct – Kyiv, Ukraine
1 Nov – Vilnius, Lithuania
2 Nov – Helsinki, Finland