Swans have unveiled their 17th studio album, Birthing, set for release on May 30 via Mute/Young God.
The announcement comes alongside the sprawling 19-minute single I Am A Tower. The song is a towering composition that encapsulates the band’s signature mix of tension, release, and hypnotic intensity.
Michael Gira, the band’s mastermind, has made something quite clear. This record marks the final phase of Swans in their current form. “We’ll do a final tour in this mode towards the end of 2025, then that’s it,” he said. “Swans will continue, so long as I’m able, but in a significantly pared-down form.”
Gira described Birthing as a culmination of a year spent on the road, with much of the album’s material evolving through live performance. Songs like The Healers, I Am A Tower and Birthing took shape during their 2023-2024 tour. They were later refined in the studio. Meanwhile, two tracks—Red Yellow and The Merge—were ostensibly born entirely in the recording process.
“It all started with me sitting in my office with an acoustic guitar. I would sing and dream about what would become of these skeletal songs,” Gira said. “Through improvisation, endless revisions, and an intensity of focus in performance the music morphed into what you generally hear on this collection.”
While Swans have long been defined by their ability to shapeshift, Birthing appears to be the closing statement of this particular incarnation. With Gira hinting that the next iteration of Swans will be stripped down even further, we are left with not much to go on.
For now, fans can soak in I Am A Tower, a meditative, slow-burning descent into the abyss. It’s Swans at their most immersive. As the band prepares for their final tour in this form, Birthing promises to be both an ending and a new beginning.
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