The Glowing Man

Last updated

The Glowing Man
The Glowing Man (Front Cover).jpg
Studio album by
Swans
ReleasedJune 17, 2016 (2016-06-17)
Studio Sonic Ranch (Tornillo, Texas)
Elmwood Studios (Dallas, Texas)
Studio Litho (Seattle, Washington)
CandyBomber (Berlin)
Micro-Moose (Berlin)
Jen Turner's apartment (Brooklyn, New York)
B.C. Studios (Brooklyn, New York)
Genre
Length118:23
LanguageEnglish
Label
Producer Michael Gira
Swans chronology
The Gate
(2015)		The Glowing Man
(2016)		 Deliquescence
(2017)
Singles from The Glowing Man
  1. "When Will I Return?"
    Released: May 27, 2016
  2. "Finally, Peace."
    Released: November 18, 2016

The Glowing Man is the fourteenth studio album by American experimental rock band Swans, released on June 17, 2016 on Young God and Mute. [7] [8] It is considered the third and final part of a three-album "trilogy", the other two parts being The Seer and To Be Kind .

Contents

Background

The song "The World Looks Red/The World Looks Black" contains lyrics written by frontman Michael Gira that were used in the Sonic Youth song "The World Looks Red" in 1983; the music is new, with no relation to the earlier version. [8] Swans and Sonic Youth both developed in the early 1980s post-punk/no wave scene of New York City, and Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore was an early member of Swans appearing on the live album Body to Body, Job to Job (recorded 1982–85, released 1991). The title track for The Glowing Man has previously been referred to as "Black Hole Man" [9] and "Black-Eyed Man" and includes a section of "Bring the Sun / Toussaint L'Ouverture" from the 2014 album To Be Kind. The song "When Will I Return?" was uploaded to YouTube on May 27, 2016. [10]

Prior to its appearance on The Glowing Man, "Frankie M." was part of Swans' live sets as early as 2014, its length and arrangements differing each time it was performed.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
AnyDecentMusic? 7.7/10 [11]
Metacritic 81/100 [12]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [1]
The A.V. Club B+ [13]
Consequence of Sound B+ [2]
Financial Times Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [14]
Mojo Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [3]
Pitchfork 8.1/10 [15]
Record Collector Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [16]
Rolling Stone Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [17]
Spin 8/10 [18]
Uncut 8/10 [19]

The Glowing Man was met with widespread critical acclaim. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from critics, the album received an average score of 81, based on 22 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". Writing for Exclaim! , Griffin J. Elliot called the album "a meticulous exercise in the band's streamlining their abstract sound, taking what they've done before and playing it under a newer, grander spotlight." [20] Saby Reyes-Kulkarni wrote for Pitchfork , "The love in [Gira's] music is as terrible as it is beautiful, a wrenching act of spiritual determination. Swans make this sound effortless, though, in a fitting end to a remarkable chapter of their career." [15] Paul Simpson of AllMusic gave the album four out of five stars, describing the album as "another exhilarating portal into the unknown." [1] Louis Pattison, writing for Uncut , claimed the album is "gesturing towards something more contemplative" and is "certainly weathered by the journey." [21]

In a more mixed review, Rolling Stone's Christopher R. Weingarten stated that "While their long, drawn-out, circling dark clouds remain potent, ultimately The Glowing Man is the weakest of the three powerful epics they’ve released since 2012." [22]

Several music criticism websites included The Glowing Man on their lists of the best albums of 2016. Rockdelux ranked the album at twelfth in their top international albums of the year.[ citation needed ] Sputnikmusic ranked it at thirty-eighth, with staff member Raul Stanciu writing that "[The Glowing Man] takes an important step forward for Swans, thus deserving its place as another significant achievement in their discography." [23] The Quietus placed the album at eighty-seventh on their list, with writer Lior Phillips writing "the instrumentalists ripple out in meditative layers, never covering over or distracting from it, but rather reinforcing." [24]

Accolades

PublicationAccoladeYearRank
The Quietus Albums of the Year 2016201687 [25]
SputnikmusicStaff’s Top 50 Albums of 2016201638 [26]
Uncut Top Albums of 2016201646[ citation needed ]
Rolling Stone (Germany)Top Albums of 2016201616[ citation needed ]
Rockdelux Top International Albums of 2016201612[ citation needed ]
Rockerilla Top Albums of 2016201614 [27]

Track listing

All music is composed by Michael Gira, Norman Westberg, Christopher Pravdica, Christoph Hahn, Thor Harris and Phil Puleo, except where noted

Disc one
No.TitleMusicLength
1."Cloud of Forgetting" 12:43
2."Cloud of Unknowing" 25:12
3."The World Looks Red / The World Looks Black"Michael Gira14:27
4."People Like Us"Michael Gira4:32
Total length:56:54
Disc two
No.TitleMusicLength
1."Frankie M." 20:58
2."When Will I Return?"Michael Gira5:26
3."The Glowing Man" 28:50
4."Finally, Peace."Michael Gira6:15
Total length:61:29
Vinyl version (Side one)
No.TitleLength
1."Cloud of Forgetting"12:43
2."Cloud of Unknowing" (Part 1)6:04
Vinyl version (Side two)
No.TitleLength
1."Cloud of Unknowing" (Part 2)19:48
Vinyl version (Side three)
No.TitleLength
1."The World Looks Red / The World Looks Black"14:27
2."People Like Us"4:32
Vinyl version (Side four)
No.TitleLength
1."Frankie M."20:58
Vinyl version (Side five)
No.TitleLength
1."When Will I Return?"5:26
2."The Glowing Man" (Part 1)15:02
Vinyl version (Side six)
No.TitleLength
1."The Glowing Man" (Part 2)13:55
2."Finally, Peace."6:15

Personnel

Adapted from the official Young God Records website: [8]

Swans

Guests

Charts

Chart (2016)Peak
position
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria) [28] 24
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) [29] 39
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia) [30] 69
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) [31] 49
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) [32] 29
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade) [33] 54
UK Albums (OCC) [34] 61
US Billboard 200 [35] 151

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Swans (band)</span> American experimental rock band

Swans are an American experimental rock band formed in 1982 by singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Michael Gira. One of the few acts to emerge from the New York City-based no wave scene and stay intact into the next decade, Swans have become recognized for an ever-changing sound, exploring genres such as noise rock, post-punk, industrial and post-rock. Initially, their music was known for its sonic brutality and misanthropic lyrics. Following the addition of singer, songwriter and keyboardist Jarboe in 1986, Swans began to incorporate melody and intricacy into their music. Jarboe remained the band's only constant member except Gira and semi-constant guitarist Norman Westberg until their dissolution in 1997.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Gira</span> American singer and musician

Michael Rolfe Gira is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, author and artist. Now based in New Mexico, he founded the band Swans, in which he sings and plays guitar, in New York City in the 1980s at the height of the no wave movement. He is also the founder of Young God Records and previously fronted Angels of Light.

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<i>The Seer</i> (Swans album) 2012 studio album by Swans

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The Beggar is the sixteenth studio album by the American experimental rock band Swans. It was released by Mute and Young God Records on June 23, 2023. Written during the COVID-19 pandemic, it was recorded at Candy Bomber Studio in Berlin, Germany across 2022, with key collaborators of front man Michael Gira, as well as both past and present members of the band. The announcement of the album coincided with the release of its lead single, "Paradise Is Mine", as well as the announcement of a world tour. The Beggar was preceded and funded by the acoustic demo album Is There Really a Mind? (2022).

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Simpson, Paul. "The Glowing Man – Swans". AllMusic . Retrieved June 15, 2016.
  2. 1 2 Barry, Sean (June 17, 2016). "Swans – The Glowing Man". Consequence of Sound . Retrieved November 23, 2017.
  3. 1 2 Segal, Victoria (July 2016). "Swans: The Glowing Man". Mojo (272): 92. Retrieved June 15, 2016.
  4. ↑ "Swans – The Glowing Man". Spectrum Culture.
  5. ↑ "Swans – The Glowing Man". The Line of Best Fit.
  6. ↑ "Swans – The Glowing Man". Pretty Much Amazing.
  7. ↑ Camp, Zoe (April 5, 2016). "Swans Announce New Album The Glowing Man, Share Title Track: Listen". Pitchfork Media . Retrieved April 5, 2016.
  8. 1 2 3 "The Glowing Man (preorder)". Young God Records. April 5, 2016. Retrieved April 5, 2016.
  9. ↑ "Swans Live Review @ Music Hall of Williamsburg – Brooklyn Vegan" . Retrieved June 15, 2016.
  10. ↑ SWANS (May 27, 2016). "When Will I Return" . Retrieved June 15, 2016– via YouTube.
  11. ↑ "The Glowing Man by Swans reviews". AnyDecentMusic? . Retrieved October 15, 2019.
  12. ↑ "Reviews for The Glowing Man by Swans". Metacritic . Retrieved June 16, 2016.
  13. ↑ Warwick, Kevin (June 17, 2016). "With The Glowing Man, Michael Gira caps off Swans' golden age of exploration". The A.V. Club . Retrieved June 17, 2016.
  14. ↑ Hunter-Tilney, Ludovic (June 24, 2016). "Swans: The Glowing Man — review" . Financial Times . Retrieved October 15, 2019.
  15. 1 2 Reyes-Kulkarni, Saby (June 21, 2016). "Swans: The Glowing Man". Pitchfork . Retrieved June 21, 2016.
  16. ↑ Hamnett, Alun (July 2016). "Swans – The Glowing Man". Record Collector (455). Retrieved November 23, 2017.
  17. ↑ Weingarten, Christopher R. (July 11, 2016). "The Glowing Man". Rolling Stone . Retrieved November 23, 2017.
  18. ↑ Camp, Zoe (June 21, 2016). "Review: Swans' Actual Swan Song Is a Cloud of Unknowing on 'The Glowing Man'". Spin . Retrieved June 21, 2016.
  19. ↑ Pattison, Louis (July 6, 2016). "Swans – The Glowing Man". Uncut . Archived from the original on July 7, 2016. Retrieved June 21, 2016.
  20. ↑ Elliot, Griffin J. (June 16, 2016). "Swans: The Glowing Man". Exclaim! . Retrieved August 10, 2016.
  21. ↑ Pattison, Louis (July 6, 2016). "Swans – The Glowing Man". Uncut . Archived from the original on July 7, 2016. Retrieved June 21, 2016.
  22. ↑ Weingarten, Christopher R. (July 11, 2016). "The Glowing Man". Rolling Stone . Retrieved November 23, 2017.
  23. ↑ "Sputnikmusic – Staff's Top 50 Albums of 2016: 50 – 31 « Staff Blog" . Retrieved February 20, 2019.
  24. ↑ "The Quietus Albums of the Year 2016". The Quietus . December 6, 2016. Retrieved December 6, 2016.
  25. ↑ "The Quietus Albums of the Year 2016". The Quietus . December 6, 2016. Retrieved December 6, 2016.
  26. ↑ "Sputnikmusic – Staff's Top 50 Albums of 2016: 50 – 31 « Staff Blog" . Retrieved February 20, 2019.
  27. ↑ "Rocklist.net...Rockerilla End Of Year Lists..." www.rocklistmusic.co.uk. Retrieved February 20, 2019.
  28. ↑ "Austriancharts.at – Swans – The Glowing Man" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved June 29, 2016.
  29. ↑ "Ultratop.be – Swans – The Glowing Man" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved June 24, 2016.
  30. ↑ "Ultratop.be – Swans – The Glowing Man" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved June 24, 2016.
  31. ↑ "Dutchcharts.nl – Swans – The Glowing Man" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved June 24, 2016.
  32. ↑ "Offiziellecharts.de – Swans – The Glowing Man" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved June 24, 2016.
  33. ↑ "Swisscharts.com – Swans – The Glowing Man". Hung Medien. Retrieved June 29, 2016.
  34. ↑ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved June 25, 2016.
  35. ↑ "Swans Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved June 28, 2016.
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