What Is This? (Swans album)

What Is This? is a 2019 limited-edition fundraiser album by American experimental rock band Swans.[1][2][3] The album was released in March 2019 on band leader Michael Gira's Young God Records. Limited to 2,500 copies, the album served as a fundraiser for the fifteenth Swans album, Leaving Meaning, which was released in October 2019.

What Is This?
Demo album by
Swans
ReleasedMarch 2019 (2019-03)
StudioMarcata Studio (tracks 1–8)
Gira's home studio (tracks 9 & 10)
Length67:45
LabelYoung God
ProducerMichael Gira
Swans chronology
Deliquescence
(2017)		 What Is This?
(2019)		 Leaving Meaning
(2019)

Background

The album includes demos that were worked on with a full band for the following Swans record, Leaving Meaning. Songs include reworkings of previous Swans and Gira songs, such as "Amnesia", "Annaline" and "The Knot" (itself a reworking of "No Words / No Thoughts"). Unlike Swans' previous fundraiser albums (with the exception of Gira's I Am Not Insane), What Is This? exclusively contains acoustic demo tracks.

Songs not recorded or left off the release include "You Will Pay" (also known as "You Must Pay"[4]), a rearranged version of 1989's "God Damn the Sun", an untitled "organ thing" and an untitled "long song".[5]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Michael Gira

No.TitleLength
1."Leaving Meaning" (Previously referred to as "Prayer Thing"[6][7])6:32
2."The Hanging Man"10:02
3."Amnesia" (New arrangement[6][7])6:10
4."The Nub"5:50
5."Cathedrals of Heaven" (Reworking of the end of "The Knot", also previously referred to as "Prayer Thing"[6][7])6:20
6."Sunfucker"6:30
7."What Is This?"5:21
8."My Phantom Limb" (Previously referred to as "The Secret Sharer"[4])11:25
9."Annaline" (Previously released on Gira's I Am Not This)3:50
10."It's Coming and It's Real" (Previously referred to as "The Last Song",[5] later titled "It's Coming It's Real")5:49
Total length:67:45

Personnel
  • Michael Gira – guitar, vocals, artwork
  • Jennifer Gira – vocals on "The Nub"
  • Nicole Boitos – artwork
  • Doug Henderson – mastering
  • Kevin McMahon – recording

References
  1. "What Is This? (Handmade CD)". YOUNG GOD RECORDS. Retrieved March 26, 2019.
  2. "Swans Announce What Is This? Handmade CD Release Featuring Acoustic Versions of Songs for New Album -". March 18, 2019. Retrieved March 26, 2019.
  3. "Hey Swans, What Is This?". FLOOD. Retrieved March 26, 2019.
  4. "Michael Gira @ Bremen Teater, Copenhagen, DEN - Live Review - Rockfreaks.net". www.rockfreaks.net.
  5. "Photo". img.discogs.com. Retrieved December 17, 2019.
  6. "Instagram post by SWANS • Aug 2, 2018 at 3:32pm UTC". Instagram. Archived from the original on December 25, 2021. Retrieved March 26, 2019.
  7. "SWANS on Instagram: "M.Gira will be performing solo versions of most of these new Swans songs at the following venues soon. His pal Norman Westberg will open…"". Instagram. Archived from the original on December 25, 2021. Retrieved March 26, 2019.
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