Not content with simply offering a live album from their recent not-quite-a-reunion shows, Swans have printed up 1,000 woodblock-sheathed copies of their new double disc We Rose From Your Bed With the Sun In Our Head as part of a Kickstarter-like project for the band’s next studio album, The Seer.
Here’s an abridged breakdown, straight from the mouth of Michael Gira himself:
“Represented in these discs are the best recordings we could provide of the (ever-evolving) shows. Those of you who attended the early shows realize that the first iterations of the music morphed and grew (seemingly with a will more expansive than our own) into something quite different by the end. This, in itself, was immensely gratifying. We also developed many new songs—or sonic events is perhaps a better way to describe some of them—along the way. In compiling these recordings and mixing them with my trusted friend and engineer Kevin McMahon (at Marcata Studio, Gardiner NY), we did our best to represent that transition… if you choose to acquire this 2 disc set, in my view it would behoove you to listen to the music at a generous volume level. This has absolutely nothing to do with an aggressive intent, as some mistakenly assume. Exactly the opposite, in fact. As with the live experience, it’s all about immersion…ALSO INCLUDED (ON DISC 2) herein are a few acoustic performances by me of songs that will be on the upcoming Swans album. These are the basic templates – the songs necessarily mutate into something else entirely by the time we’re through with them. These simple versions are included here to give you a picture of the process involved. They’re not meant as (and aren’t!) ‘great performances’. By the way, these are for YOU only. Please, please, please do not ‘share’ these, or any of the other recordings on the goddamn internet or anywhere else. Would really appreciate your attention to this request!
Speaking of the packaging, the cover image is a drawing by myself that was expertly converted to woodblock, and then printed and numbered by my good friend Nicole Boitos. She also was kind enough to number them, 1 through 1000. I suppose if I weren’t perpetually holed up in the studio working on the new studio album, I would have printed them etc myself, but definitely the result would have been the smeared mess of a dim-witted 3 year old by comparison. Thanks to Nicole for doing such an expert job! But, I indeed served my time in the end. After receiving the finished prints I assembled the final package personally, signed each one, as well as did some additional coloration on each one (see pictures on this page). This is a labor of love. Or labor, anyway!”
Check out more photos of this project below, and head to Young God’s official site for more details on how you can score everything from an executive producer credit on The Seer to a “simple, short, original song, acoustic guitar and voice, with customers’ name in the song, praising the customer.” Yes, really.
