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What Is This? (Swans album)

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What Is This?
Demo album by
Swans
ReleasedMarch 2019 (2019-03)
StudioMarcata Studio (tracks 1–8)
Gira's home studio (tracks 9 & 10)
Length67:45
LabelYoung God
ProducerMichael Gira
Swans chronology
Deliquescence
(2017) 		What Is This?
(2019) 		Leaving Meaning
(2019)

What Is This? is a 2019 limited-edition fundraiser album by American experimental rock band Swans.[1][2][3] The album was released in March 2019 on band leader Michael Gira's Young God Records. Limited to 2,500 copies, the album served as a fundraiser for the fifteenth Swans album, Leaving Meaning, which was released in October 2019.

Background

The album includes demos that were worked on with a full band for the following Swans record, Leaving Meaning. Songs include reworkings of previous Swans and Gira songs, such as "Amnesia", "Annaline" and "The Knot" (itself a reworking of "No Words / No Thoughts"). Unlike Swans' previous fundraiser albums (with the exception of Gira's I Am Not Insane), What Is This? exclusively contains acoustic demo tracks.

Songs not recorded or left off the release include "You Will Pay" (also known as "You Must Pay"[4]), a rearranged version of 1989's "God Damn the Sun", an untitled "organ thing" and an untitled "long song".[5]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Michael Gira

No.TitleLength
1."Leaving Meaning" (Previously referred to as "Prayer Thing"[6][7])6:32
2."The Hanging Man"10:02
3."Amnesia" (New arrangement[6][7])6:10
4."The Nub"5:50
5."Cathedrals of Heaven" (Reworking of the end of "The Knot", also previously referred to as "Prayer Thing"[6][7])6:20
6."Sunfucker"6:30
7."What Is This?"5:21
8."My Phantom Limb" (Previously referred to as "The Secret Sharer"[4])11:25
9."Annaline" (Previously released on Gira's I Am Not This)3:50
10."It's Coming and It's Real" (Previously referred to as "The Last Song",[5] later titled "It's Coming It's Real")5:49
Total length:67:45

Personnel

References

  1. ^ "What Is This? (Handmade CD)". YOUNG GOD RECORDS. Retrieved March 26, 2019.
  2. ^ "Swans Announce What Is This? Handmade CD Release Featuring Acoustic Versions of Songs for New Album -". March 18, 2019. Retrieved March 26, 2019.
  3. ^ "Hey Swans, What Is This?". FLOOD. Retrieved March 26, 2019.
  4. ^ a b "Michael Gira @ Bremen Teater, Copenhagen, DEN - Live Review - Rockfreaks.net". www.rockfreaks.net.
  5. ^ a b "Photo". img.discogs.com. Retrieved December 17, 2019.
  6. ^ a b c "Instagram post by SWANS • Aug 2, 2018 at 3:32pm UTC". Instagram. Retrieved March 26, 2019.
  7. ^ a b c "SWANS on Instagram: "M.Gira will be performing solo versions of most of these new Swans songs at the following venues soon. His pal Norman Westberg will open…"". Instagram. Retrieved March 26, 2019.
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