Something In The Air (15)
Olivier Assayas's film on the aftermath of May 1968 is infantile ultra-leftism
Jingoism and war-worship must be overcome
JOE GLENTON explains his need to respond to a world that is unsustainably divided
La Boheme
ENO's production of La Boheme is a triumph,
Swans - The Seer
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Monday 03 September 2012
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Thirty years in the making, this grandiose two-hour juggernaut of noise is the culmination of every previous Swans album, according to stetson-wearing stormbringer Michael Gira.
That's quite some statement, even for a rock star, until of course you listen to it.
The title track is a spiritually cathartic 30-minute epic that creeps menacingly with nightmarish drones and discordant jangles before it crescendos into a wall of guitar - and there's more where that came from.
But it's not all such a relentless experiment.
The gently sung The Daughter Brings The Water and Song For A Warrior serve as the calm between two storms before Swans come crashing down again.
It's difficult to imagine that, stripped to their fundamentals, all 11 songs were acoustic guitar before being "fleshed out," "tortured" and "seduced" in the studio, ready to await further "cannibalism" live.
What a performance that should be.
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