History Music / Swans

* VocalEvolution: On the band's early releases, most noticeably on ''Filth'', Gira's vocals were delivered in a gruff GutturalGrowler style before gradually shifting into a deep bass-baritone style.

* NightmareFace: The cover of ''The Seer'', which features a grinning, beady-eyed fox/wolf thing surrounded by darkness.

* IAmTheBand: Gira, to an extent.

* CoolOldGuy: Pretty much the whole band as of 2012. In particular, Gira is in his late 60s and not only remains creatively vital, but is enjoying the best sales of his career.

* ReCut: The vinyl release of ''The Beggar'' omits "The Beggar Lover (Three)" due to space constraints; as the track is a whopping [[EpicRocking 44 minutes long]], it would be impossible to fit it onto an LP without making serious compromises. The remaining tracklist is also drastically rearranged to compensate.

*** ''The Beggar'' only has three out of eleven tracks over the 10 minute mark, but those three take up over ''half'' of the album's runtime: "The Beggar" (10:15), "Ebbing" (11:04), and "The Beggar Lover" ('''43:51''').

* CoolOldGuy: Pretty much the whole band as of 2012. In particular, Gira is in his mid-60s and not only remains creatively vital, but is enjoying the best sales of his career.

* '''''The Beggar''''' (2023) - Picks right up where ''Leaving Meaning'' left off, only this time with a scaled-down band of musicians and a focus on atmospheric, drone-based compositions, whilst its tracklist marks a return to the lengthy 2 hour format.

* '''''The Beggar''''' (2023) - Picks right up where ''Leaving Meaning'' left off, only this time with a smaller band of musicians and a focus on atmospheric, drone-based compositions, whilst its tracklist marks a return to the lengthy 2 hour format.

The band's fourteenth studio album, ''The Glowing Man'', was released on June 17, 2016. Gira followed it up by announcing that the current version of the group is coming to an end, but he will continue to make music under the name Swans, with a revolving cast of musicians he feels are appropriate for each project.

* ''''Is There Really a Mind?'''' (2022) - Another fundraiser for the next Swans release, comprised of new demos by Gira.
* '''''The Beggar''''' (2023) - Album number 16, which picks right up where ''Leaving Meaning'' left off, only this time focused on atmospheric, drone-based compositions, whilst its tracklist marks a return to the lengthy 2 hour format.

* '''''The Beggar''''' (2023) - Picks right up where ''Leaving Meaning'' left off, only this time focused on drone-based compositions, and marks a return to the lengthy 2 hour format.

The band's fourteenth studio album, ''The Glowing Man'', was released on June 17, 2016. Gira followed it up by announcing that the current version of the group is coming to an end, but he will continue to make music under the name Swans.

* '''''The Beggar''''' (2023) - Picks right up where ''Leaving Meaning'' left off, only this time with a much greater focus on drones, and marks a return to the lengthy 2 hour format.

* '''''The Beggar''''' (2023)

* LongTitle: ''My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky''.

*** ''The Beggar'' only has three out of eleven tracks over the 10 minute mark, but those three take up over ''half'' of the album: "The Beggar" (10:15), "Ebbing" (11:04), and "The Beggar Lover" ('''43:51''').

* EpicInstrumentalOpener: "A Piece of the Sky", "Apostate" and "Frankie M" all have over 10 minutes of music before any actual singing.

* AwesomeMcCoolname: ''Thor'' Harris. Almost counts as a MeaningfulName, as he's a burly red-haired dude whose role as a percussionist often has him hitting things with hammers.

* '''''Music/TheSeer''''' (2012) - The first album in an informal trilogy of epic full-lengths. Clocking in at 1:59:13, it's one of the band's longest albums and also one of their darkest. Its sound can best be described as a mixture of post-rock, drone, folk, and noise. Collaborators include [[Music/{{Low}} Alan and Mimi Sparhawk]], Karen O, Ben Frost, and Jarboe in her only appearance post-reformation. Met with critical acclaim.

--> '''Michael Gira'''

* EpicRocking: [[UpToEleven Taken to the extreme]] on their 2012 tours. "The Seer," in particular, seems to [[SerialEscalation expand exponentially]] with each new incarnation; the latest version, which forms a medley with two other songs, stretches to a remarkable ''hour and a half''. Their 2014 tour has featured the song "Frankie M," which goes on for nearly an hour each performance. The same goes for "The Knot", which was debuted live on their 2016 tour. On both of these tours, the audience was lucky if seven songs appeared over the course of two-and-a-half hours.

* AndNowForSomethingCompletelyDifferent: Repeatedly on ''Soundtracks for the Blind'', most notably with "Volcano", an EDM track about stalking and cannibalism, and "Yum Yab Killers", a live HardcorePunk track.

* MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness: They bounce all around the scale; their acoustic stuff (such as "Love Will Tear Us Apart" or "Failure") probably counts as a 1 or 2, whereas most of ''Cop'' comes in at a hard 9 or higher, and live material from the same era (featured on ''Public Castration is a Good Idea'' amongst other recordings) often hits 10 or even 11. And then there's stuff like ''Love of Life'' in between at about 4, and other stuff like ''Soundtracks for the Blind'' or "Look at Me Go" that [[MindScrew just sits outside of the scale entirely]].
* MohsScaleOfLyricalHardness: In spite of the above, this one more or less stays at a fixed 7+.