Swans Announce North American Tour Dates For 2020

Having released their 15th studio album leaving meaning. to considerable media acclaim, Swans are announcing North American tour dates for spring 2020, which follow a European tour. Very special guest for these shows will be Anna von Hausswolff. Kicking off in Dallas, TX, the tour will finish with two Brooklyn dates at Warsaw June 26 and 27 - full details below.

Swans live will be: Michael Gira (acoustic and electric guitar and voice); Kristof Hahn (lap steel guitar, electric guitar, loops); Phil Puleo (drums, percussion, gizmos); Dana Schechter (bass guitar, lap steel guitar, keys); Christopher Pravdica (bass guitar, loops, keys); Ben Frost (synthesizer, Mellotron, electric guitar). Press response to the new album has been overwhelmingly positive:

The new record is sweeter, too, shifting its focus from raging catharsis to eye-widening beauty. Instead of the hammer-on-anvil force of recent albums, the largely acoustic palette leans toward plucked strings, brushed percussion, and sighing choirs. At least two songs are in an uncharacteristically chipper major key, and one of them (the radiant "What Is This?") summons a sparkling beatitude reminiscent of Cocteau Twins' Heaven or Las Vegas.

Philip Sherburne/Pitchfork

Easily one of the "nicest" sounding records the band has released to date, it still manages to deliver the kind of disturbing, compulsive grooves that made earlier records often get described as "terrifying."... Since 1982, Swans and Gira's various offshoot groups have all held fast to his dark, claustrophobic lyricism and arranging. And they just keep getting better.

Stuart Derdeyn/Vancouver Sun

Swans' leaving meaning. is a customarily monolithic work of experimental rock... Achieved throughout with a revamped and revolving crew of guests, its vast runtime alongside Gira's steady narrative guide us to ponder a number of things: reality, our perception of existence, the unknown, and fate... In its bone-chilling, earnest spirit, we witness Swans maintaining a power they never lost - we see them exceeding expectations, branding themselves as a seismic force in experimental rock, and here, they continue to touch on that greatness.

Evan Lilly/The Line of Best Fit (UK)

SWANS NORTH AMERICAN TOUR - SPRING 2020

6/5/2020 Dallas TX Granada Theater

6/6/2020 Austin TX Access Oblivion Fest at Empire Garage

6/9/2020 Los Angeles CA Regent Theatre

6/10/2020 San Francisco CA The Fillmore

6/12/2020 Portland OR Revolution Hall

6/13/2020 Seattle WA The Neptune

6/16/2020 Minneapolis MN Varsity Theater

6/17/2020 Chicago IL Thalia Hall

6/19/2020 Detroit MI El Club

6/20/2020 Toronto ON Lee's Palace

6/21/2020 Montreal QC Theatre National

6/24/2020 Allston MA Brighton Music Hall

6/25/2020 Philadelphia PA Underground Arts

6/26/2020 Brooklyn NY Warsaw

6/27/2020 Brooklyn NY Warsaw

leaving meaning. was written and produced by Michael Gira and features contributions from recent and former Swans, members of Angels of Light, as well as guest artists Anna and Maria von Hausswolff, Ben Frost, The Necks, Baby Dee, and a Hawk and a Hacksaw.

Michael Gira explains, "leaving meaning. is the first Swans album to be released since I dissolved the lineup of musicians that constituted Swans from 2010 - 2017. Swans is now comprised of a revolving cast of musicians, selected for both their musical and personal character, chosen according to what I intuit best suits the atmosphere in which I'd like to see the songs I've written presented. In collaboration with me, the musicians, through their personality, skill and taste, contribute greatly to the arrangement of the material. They're all people whose work I admire and whose company I personally enjoy."