swans - not here, not now

release date.

https://younggodrecords.com/products/swans-not-here-not-now-handmade-2cd

a silver mt. zion - he has left us alone but shafts of light sometimes grace the corner of our rooms

 

Benchmark

there are some records that are best to listen to lying flat on your back, through a pair of high quality headphones. it should be immediately clear, from the opening chords, that a silver mt zion's first record is one of these records. if you do not believe me, give it a try and notice the high pedal tone underneath the now iconic opening broken chords, along with the sound of the drummer walking in and picking up his drumsticks.

the stereo separation is also a fundamental part of the record, and will be largely missed through a pair of speakers. the heavily reverberated soundscape presented here really demands your full attention; your headphones are a virtual reality headset, taking you to a different plane of existence, in which this is your soundtrack....

the theme here is floating, as brought out by the airplane and rocket imagery. sure, you could take the literal approach and think of it as a soundtrack for a doomed air flight, or as sitting between three galloping dogs. you may also interpret it, variously, as flying through hyperspace, as buzzing through flower patches or, perhaps, as falling through purgatory.

i don't know if they ever corrected the record sleeve, but the one that came with the initial pressings of the disk were sort of confusing. it splits the disk up into two proper pieces, each with four movements. however, the last movement of the first piece is an isolated show tune, and the second movement of the second piece is seven seconds long. judging by the track titles, the correct tracklisting is something like this:

i) 13 angels...track 5
ii) long march rocket...track 7
iii) blown-out joy...beginning of track 8
iv) for wanda ....end of track 8

...but that positions 'for wanda' as barely it's own song. the record is really better analyzed as two minimalist pieces, each with three movements, separated by a vocal interlude.

the first track begins with a joke that is so subtle that almost everybody missed it. the band's sense of humour is more clear now than it was then, so i think my claim that the track is a parody should come off as less outlandish now than it did when they were perceived as a bunch of esoteric weirdos living in a shack by the railroad tracks, pumping out obfuscated anarchist manifestos like some kind of musical grothendieck. see, there were many hours spent debating this point. yet, it really does seem clear that the samples were chosen to poke fun of the radio announcer at least, and likely the audience by proxy. this day of peace, where there is no peace. what? no, don't turn to the page, i'll just read it to you. well, that doesn't sound like a request to think independently, now does it. be sober! be serious! that's just tongue-in-cheek.

the piece then opens up into a sort of apocalyptic waltz that runs through fast and slow sections of the same theme before it crashes in on itself in a series of descending piano runs. it's a simple theme, but it's built to maximum dramatic effect. more importantly, it's mixed to take up the entire spectrum, which is why you need your virtual reality gear for it. you're not listening to the notes, here. don't fall into that trap. you're experiencing the alternate reality produced by the notes.

i should point out here that this record was released almost two years before the september 11 attack, and anybody trying to tie the disc's track titles (such as "lonely as the sound of lying on the ground of an airplane going down" or "long march rocket or doomed airliner") to that event isn't presenting an informed analysis. at best, it's an interesting coincidence; at worst, it's an appropriation of the actual intent of the subject titles, which i've actually tended to interpret as references to a thomas pynchon classic entitled gravity's rainbow, which ends with a cursory character being launched out of a v2 rocket. at the time, the band actually claimed it was a tribute record to a recently deceased dog (wanda). of course, the titles also have vague, societal meanings and it's perfectly reasonable to leave them at that. however, other titles like "stumble then rise on some awkward morning" are consistent with the pynchon interpretation, as is the picture in the liner notes of a rocket coming out of an egg.

the separating track is called "movie (never made)" and is apparently a relic of precisely that. it was initially meant as a monologue to that film, which was never made. personally, i couldn't separate it from the show tune at this point if i wanted to. if efrim ever gets this movie put together, that bass rumble is going to start playing in my head whether he likes it or not. it's a powerful little track with some equally powerful vocals that i've swung back and forth on over the years. it may be a sad and angry and fucking naive rant, and i may only be able to understand jewish guilt over contemporary political issues on an abstract level, but he's right fucking on. he really is....

the second half of the record floats off into some netherworld full of loops and effects. your disney programming may interpret walking basslines with images of cats and thieves stalking through the night, but i'm going to try and pull you back to a feeling of disorientation. perhaps there is a cartoonish aspect of drunkenness in that as well, perhaps i'm just hearing the bohemian in it, but, for me, it conjures up images of levitation and of humans being spun, erratically, through an unknown field. the climax here is in a piano working up a thunderstorm that shatters the entire illusion, leaving only a distorted reflection that struggles to reassert itself through a haze of hyperrealism.

i suppose there's a middle point between gorgeous and gutwrenching. while it may primarily be a jam record, this disc really hits that sweet spot in ways that are rarely accomplished and i really can't recommend it highly enough.

stream:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVWLbNXsPfs&list=PLnpQFjefXCRPsmeGJ_xCo2B7SptySvOsA

http://dghjdfsghkrdghdgja.appspot.com/categories/music/artists/ASilverMtZion/2000-HeHasLeftUsAlone/index.html