Swans – The Beggar – Album Review:

Hi, everyone. Today is a big day, because I’m going to be reviewing the newest Swans album, their first since 2019, called The Beggar.

This might be one of my most anticipated albums of 2023. And that feels strange considering that I’m not very familiar with Swans’ discography yet. Going into this album, I’d only listened to a few of their albums and hadn’t really gotten to know them very well, and I still haven’t listened to Soundtracks For the Blind or To Be Kind—I’d only listened to a few of their early albums. And don’t get me wrong, I remember liking most of what I’d heard, but I just haven’t taken the time to go through their discography, and considering how long their albums are, I didn’t want to do that all at once. I’m still curious to check out their albums, but I highly doubt I’ll get to all of their albums within the next few months or anything.

So, why was I so excited about this album? Well, partially because I have mostly liked what I’ve heard from Swans up to this point, but also in large part due to the huge amounts of critical acclaim this band has received over the years, and the fact that based on what I’ve heard people say about this band, they seem like the kind of band I would absolutely love!

And I’m not really sure why I haven’t checked out more of their music. I mean, yes, I’m reviewing a ton of new albums, and I’ve been checking out some other older music, and I also save some time to listen to music I already know, and I’ve got a life outside of music as well … but still, considering just how much this band seems right up my alley, I’m surprised I haven’t listened to more of their music. From what I’ve heard, they make super experimental, avant-garde rock music which challenges what music can be—or at least I’ve heard some descriptions similar to that.

But for now, I want to talk about their newest album, The Beggar, an album that is slightly more than two hours long, and after listening to it all the way through, start to finish,  multiple times, how do I feel about the album?

Holy fuck. I didn’t see this coming. Look, I often struggle to get into really long albums, but this two-hour album is a monster of a record that feels like a nightmare, waking up from a nightmare, and then questioning the meaning of everything, all in album form.

I’ve never heard anything like this before, and it’s arguably one of the most haunting albums I’ve ever heard. It’s a cacophonous, noisy album full of unpredictability and eeriness, and it’s an album that I can’t really describe well with words—but I’ll tell you this: it’s easily among the top tier of my favourite albums of 2023!

But this isn’t an easy album to review—partially because it’s two hours long, and there’s so much detail in the production and instrumentation, but also because of the lyrics, as the narrator—probably Michael Gira himself—tries to accept the inevitability of death, and considering that Michael Gira is almost seventy, this album is even more hard-hitting, as he’s at a point in life when death probably feels like it’s approaching faster than it ever has before. I mean, I can’t say that for sure, as everyone’s experience is different, and I’m also only eighteen years old, but it’s probably a pretty safe assumption to make.

But this album goes beyond, ‘Things are going by fast’ and ‘Eventually I’ll no longer be here’ … it’s a super deep look at our existence, and what all of this really means.

Honestly, it’s the kind of album I could do a super, super long review of if I wanted to, because there is so much I could say about this album … but it’s hard to put into words, and it would take a lot of work, so I felt conflicted on how much detail to go into here, considering how many other posts I’m working on right now.

But I’m not going into as much detail here as a part of me would like to, partially because this is the kind of album I don’t want to say too much about, because if you listen to it, I want you to have as fantastic an experience listening to this for the first time as I did. But that being said, it’s not a super easy album to recommend considering the length and how challenging a listen it is, so while there’s a part of me that wants to highly recommend you listen to this album if you haven’t already, there’s another part of me that says, ‘If you’re not in the right mindset when you listen to it, it probably won’t have the same effect.’ And I also could totally see why this album might be way too much to handle for some … but it’s an album that made me rethink some things about the world and existence. Again, I’ve never heard anything like this album before, and it’s so phenomenal that I feel like anything I say about it will be an understatement!

I feel like a video review of this album would probably be better than a text review—and I’ve found that to be the case with multiple albums I’ve reviewed, which is part of the reason I might switch to doing video reviews at some point—and it’s kind of hard to describe why I feel that way, but words come more naturally when I’m talking than when I’m writing. And like I said, this album is very hard to put into words.

I mean, I knew I didn’t want to make this a mini review—I didn’t think that would be enough to get across my feelings on this album—but again, I struggle to really know what to say about this album.

I will say this: if you listen to this album, I highly recommend you listen to it all at once, not just in pieces. I mean, the songs themselves are great, but to me it’s very much about the full album experience. There are so many mood changes here, with a song like “No More of This” being the moment when Michael accepts the fact that death is inevitable, and it feels like a mostly optimistic song despite the subject matter, as he wishes the best for his loved ones once he’s gone, and the gorgeous production and chord progressions leads to a more optimistic feeling. I also think there’s some optimism to “Michael is Done” despite the eeriness of the track. Something about the way the chorus is delivered kind of sounds strangely optimistic despite how haunting it is, as he seems to be saying that whenever he dies, there will still be a new generation of people who will be experiencing life. And there’s also some gorgeous instrumentation here which adds to that optimistic feeling of the track.

But there are also some extremely philosophical moments on the album, like on the opening track when Michael sings, ‘I wonder if an image is realer than the thing.’ I’m not sure exactly what that line means, but it’s very fascinating!

And there are also some extremely dark moments on the album, like the feeling of being chased in “Los Angeles: City of Death”. And the song, “The Beggar”, is one of the most haunting tracks I’ve heard all year, with lyrics that are very complicated and hard to understand, but it kind of sounds like it’s about a sexual assault (or maybe another crime), from the perspective of the perpetrator. And it doesn’t defend these actions, but it seems to be trying to understand what causes people to do terrible things. That’s not to say it’s okay at all, but I think one of many steps to ending violence is trying to understand what causes people to be violent. But whatever the song is about, it’s very haunting.

Eventually we get to the second-to-last track, “The Beggar Lover (Three)”, which is more than forty minutes long! And it’s one of the most unpredictable songs I’ve heard all year!

This album is full of some of the best instrumentation I’ve heard all year, the production is so gorgeous, and it all comes together pretty much perfectly to create an album experience that absolutely blows my mind every time I hear it!

And it’s got a strong emotional resonance for me, too, as someone who often struggles with accepting the passage of time. I mean, the album is dark, haunting, terrifying, and kind of feels like a nightmare in album form in a lot of ways, and it’s also heartbreaking, but it’s also breathtakingly beautiful, and I’m so, so, so happy I took the time to listen to it. It’s got such a strong resonance for me that I can’t fully put into words, so I’ll just say it’s an incredibly special album to me that makes me think a lot about the future and the uncertainty of life, but it also gives me comfort in this chaotic world full of unpredictability.

Also, it’s worth mentioning, I hope Michael Gira is okay. The lyrics on this album about death approaching make me worried about his health … I mean, I’m probably overthinking this, but it does make me kind of worried.

But what I can say for sure is that this album is fucking incredible! And while I may have misinterpreted some lyrics—the lyrics here are very complicated and open to interpretation—it’s an album that really made me think, and it might be an album of the year contender for me this year! Yes, it’s THAT AMAZING!

This album is getting a 9.5/10 from me! It absolutely blew my mind like I couldn’t have expected at all! And while I’m looking forward to listening to Swans’ other albums, I don’t think I’ll be too disappointed if I don’t love any of them as much as I love this album, because if they have any albums better than this one … holy shit, that would be really saying something!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 9.5/10
Favourite Tracks: “The Parasite”, “Paradise Is Mine”, “Los Angeles: City of Death”, “Michael is Done”, “Unforming”, “The Beggar”, “Ebbing”, “Why Can’t I Have What I Want Any Time That I Want?”, “The Beggar Lover (Three)”, “The Memorious”
Least Favourite Tracks: “No More of This”