This is the pinnacle. You cannot drive this concept any further. They have reached the humanly possible limit.
It seems like releases which feel like the absolute culmination of an artistic idea and career are a specialty of Swans, who pulled that trick off several times with their "big sound" incarnation alone since their reunion in 2010.
But somehow, even after Michael Gira announced putting the band to bed again, there was always some new path to explore, something to add to the physically crushing, already superhumanly monolithic Swans sound.
Over the always morphing and evolving material the tours and studio recordings of this era produced, new textures were added, elements of the earlier 1990's sound returned and with the last live and studio albums ("Live Rope" and "Birthing") everything Swans had ever done seemed to merge in a perfect union of loudness excess and musicality.
And now, here comes "Newly Sentient Being"!
But somehow, even after Michael Gira announced putting the band to bed again, there was always some new path to explore, something to add to the physically crushing, already superhumanly monolithic Swans sound.
Over the always morphing and evolving material the tours and studio recordings of this era produced, new textures were added, elements of the earlier 1990's sound returned and with the last live and studio albums ("Live Rope" and "Birthing") everything Swans had ever done seemed to merge in a perfect union of loudness excess and musicality.
And now, here comes "Newly Sentient Being"!
SWANS - Newly Sentient Being (2CD + DVD) (2026)
So is this it? Have Swans reached the pinnacle for real? There'll never be a way to tell, because this over two hours long double album documents the final of their final shows in this constellation, recorded on November 28th 2025 in Berlin.
It features the line-up I've last seen myself in Hamburg in 2023, with Michael Gira mostly performing seated and playing acoustic guitar while commanding the room with his powerfully preaching charismatic voice and shamanist presence, plus the returned Norman Westberg on guitar.
Since every other member is on multi-instrumental duty, the few tracks of up to over forty-five minutes length are filled with a staggering variety of sounds from loops, synths and Mellotron to dulcimer and peacock harp - and also the possibility to dramatically raise the intensity by playing with two lap steel guitars, two basses and/or two drumsets at a time.
The result is so intriguing, hypnotically colossal and singular, that it doesn't even make sense to label it by regular categories like Noise Rock or Post Rock, because this surpasses every box you put it in - and there is no other band doing what Swans does anyway. This kind of larger than life combination of planned songwriting and conducted improvisation (in which for example a track like "The Merge" becomes something completely different from the studio version) with this consequence, dedication and experience? Noone comes close to that, not even remotely.
Ive already established in an earlier review that "Swans live in 2023/2024 is just music at its best." - My mistake to already use the superlative back then, because that literally leaves me out of grammatically correct options to properly classify what's happening on "New Sentient Being".
The double CD comes in a beautiful digipak with the usual minimalist yet distinct layout and brilliant artwork by Gira. Luckily the "Birthing" mistake of hiding the accompanying DVD inconveniently behind a CD tray has not been repeated, so there's no chance that you miss the third disc's existence this time.
The DVD features a video of the show, partly filmed with Super 8 cameras, and featuring some great editing, where the utilization of layers and slow motion, as well as very conscious choices of how and when to film the audience really heightens the already electrifying performance, especially in parts of peak inferno and catharsis or passages of almost spiritual elation.
This video really conveys the psychic and physical demands of a Swans show on the artists as well as the impact on the listeners. The stage of Festsaal Kreuzberg (which I personally connect with fond memories of the final tour of Kikagaku Moyo in 2022) is relatively small, which places the big sound in a quiete intimate setting, leading to an atmosphere you can still feel through the screen. I'm really thankful that this historic performance has been captured in this quality.
After the end credits we see short backstage interviews with the musicians, which don't even try to give us any substantial information, but rather serve to show us the emotional gravity of what the end of this era means to the executors of Michael Gira's vision.
The DVD ends with two - again very deliberatly chosen - audience interviews with a super enthusiastic eleven years old boy, who already reflects that he will always remember this night, and a fan temporarily fleeing the war in Ukraine for this final chance to see Swans.
The only open question is What about "The End of Regretting"? Since the show ends with the towering title track before this final, very Ambient song icluding the creepiest yet coolest introduction of musicians - where has this actually been recorded? My guess is as a warm-up session during soundcheck? However it's a fitting piece to cap of this release and fifteen years long era.
Live album of the year? Obviously.
It features the line-up I've last seen myself in Hamburg in 2023, with Michael Gira mostly performing seated and playing acoustic guitar while commanding the room with his powerfully preaching charismatic voice and shamanist presence, plus the returned Norman Westberg on guitar.
Since every other member is on multi-instrumental duty, the few tracks of up to over forty-five minutes length are filled with a staggering variety of sounds from loops, synths and Mellotron to dulcimer and peacock harp - and also the possibility to dramatically raise the intensity by playing with two lap steel guitars, two basses and/or two drumsets at a time.
The result is so intriguing, hypnotically colossal and singular, that it doesn't even make sense to label it by regular categories like Noise Rock or Post Rock, because this surpasses every box you put it in - and there is no other band doing what Swans does anyway. This kind of larger than life combination of planned songwriting and conducted improvisation (in which for example a track like "The Merge" becomes something completely different from the studio version) with this consequence, dedication and experience? Noone comes close to that, not even remotely.
Ive already established in an earlier review that "Swans live in 2023/2024 is just music at its best." - My mistake to already use the superlative back then, because that literally leaves me out of grammatically correct options to properly classify what's happening on "New Sentient Being".
The double CD comes in a beautiful digipak with the usual minimalist yet distinct layout and brilliant artwork by Gira. Luckily the "Birthing" mistake of hiding the accompanying DVD inconveniently behind a CD tray has not been repeated, so there's no chance that you miss the third disc's existence this time.
The DVD features a video of the show, partly filmed with Super 8 cameras, and featuring some great editing, where the utilization of layers and slow motion, as well as very conscious choices of how and when to film the audience really heightens the already electrifying performance, especially in parts of peak inferno and catharsis or passages of almost spiritual elation.
This video really conveys the psychic and physical demands of a Swans show on the artists as well as the impact on the listeners. The stage of Festsaal Kreuzberg (which I personally connect with fond memories of the final tour of Kikagaku Moyo in 2022) is relatively small, which places the big sound in a quiete intimate setting, leading to an atmosphere you can still feel through the screen. I'm really thankful that this historic performance has been captured in this quality.
After the end credits we see short backstage interviews with the musicians, which don't even try to give us any substantial information, but rather serve to show us the emotional gravity of what the end of this era means to the executors of Michael Gira's vision.
The DVD ends with two - again very deliberatly chosen - audience interviews with a super enthusiastic eleven years old boy, who already reflects that he will always remember this night, and a fan temporarily fleeing the war in Ukraine for this final chance to see Swans.
The only open question is What about "The End of Regretting"? Since the show ends with the towering title track before this final, very Ambient song icluding the creepiest yet coolest introduction of musicians - where has this actually been recorded? My guess is as a warm-up session during soundcheck? However it's a fitting piece to cap of this release and fifteen years long era.
Live album of the year? Obviously.
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