Album de la Semaine : Mode Moderne - Occult Delight

Mode Moderne

Occult Delight

Interview de Mode Moderne, par Peek a Boo

As the band say themselves: in music you can discover the music from big bands, but also from lots of obscure ones. That's the beauty of being a musicfan, I guess. It even becomes more beautiful if you get the chance to see such bands on stage. On 22th March you can watch some of these gems on the 41th edition of Fantastique Night in Brussels. Peek-A-Boo was glad to have a chat with Mode Moderne.

The legend goes that your band was born when listening to New Order, Jesus and Mary Chain and OMD records. Are these bands a main influence?
Yes we love those bands, all of those bands and other bands too, top secret bands that are really really obscure because we made them up

Are you agreeing that I think that you make “old music with a brand new jacket” on? I mean, I definitely hear the 80’s….
We make NEW music, we wear leather jackets, we put pins on our jackets and cardigans and do drugs in graveyards

Talking about the 80’s. Are they the most important decade if it comes to music?
The most important year for music was when cro-magnon pounded out the first “four on the floor” on the swollen distended belly of a wild bear

Why do youngsters like you listen to music from the past? It seems like you’re saying that today’s music isn’t any good (lol)
Youngsters like me?? There's a lot of great new music, have you heard our records?

You seem to have obsessive fans as well. Tell us about the Serbian girl with her tattoo…
She put my words on her body sadly they were not directly from my mouth

Makes me think of a funny question. What’s the most weird thing you would do for a music hero? Tell us also who the hero is!!!!
I would uncross my legs for Howard Devoto circa 1979

Do you think it’s a wise thing to devote life to music?
Ask again in 20 years

One of your songs is called REAL GOTHS. A funny name. Are/were you ever Goths?
On the sub-culture spectrum we have always leaned black but to put it simply we are mod-rocker-goth-punk-twee-marxists

You soon will be in Belgium. Were you here before?
Never before! We will require a few supplies upon arrival

As far as I’m concerned you’ve already been gigging in Europe. How was that?
Yes. We travelled across the planet to play four and a half shows. It was shit. This time we are playing almost twenty-five shows, touring with our friends COSMETICS. It will be infinitely better.

If I’m right you’re Canadian. Is there a big difference with the scene there and here in Europe?
Apparently the Canadian economy withstood the global recession but nobody buys our merch at shows so... Hopefully you Europeans will buy some records so we don't all have to get jobs on oil rigs

Let’s end with two questions I always ask. What’s your favourite record of all time and please state why…
Morrissey – Vauxhall & I because it puts us in the mood

With whom wouldn’t you mind to be alone with in an elevator for 8 hours and what would you do then?
Robert Forester and Grant McLennan, just sit there and listen to them write a full Go-Betweens record in 8 hours

Perhaps you can also tell us why people should come and visit your gig!
Because you need more dancing and making out in your life

Line Up :

Phillip Intilé

Clint Lofkrantz

Sean Gilhooly

Rebecca Gray

Label :

Light Organ Records

Tracklist :

01 – Strangle The Shadows
02 – Grudges Crossed
03 – Thieving Baby’s Breath
04 – Severed Heads
05 – She, Untamed
06 – Occult Delight
07 – Time’s Up
08 – Unburden Yourself
09 – Dirty Dream #3
10 – Baby Bunny
11 – Come Sunrise
12 – Running Scared

Album de la Semaine : Lower - Seek Warmer Climes

Lower

Seek Warmer Climes

Interview de Lower, par Jenn Pelly de Pitchfork

Pitchfork: What did you guys originally bond over musically?

Anton Rothstein: I never talked about music with Adrian when we first met. We had no intentions of playing a defined genre. We try not to bring what we listen to into Lower, but we keep failing. Saccharine Trust, Bauhaus, and Venom P. Stinger were influential on my idea of the band. And now we bond over Crisis, Nirvana, newer Scott Walker, the Germs,Rudimentary Peni, Echo and the Bunnymen. I am still mostly into hardcore punk. These days I listen to a lot of real rock music: Les Rallizes Dénudés, Brainbombs, Rusted Shut. 

Pitchfork: Was there a mood you wanted to express with Walk on Heads?

Adrian Toubro: There wasn't, but in the end some sort of gloomy mood obviously emerged.

AR: We're not aiming for joyous or sunny tunes. Someone labeled it "downer punk" and "depression rock." I don't know if I would say "aggressive," I would rather use "afraid."

Pitchfork: It seems like most of the punk coming out of Copenhagen right now is pretty downcast. Do you think there's a reason for that?

AR: It's easier to write about how bad you feel and make it genuine than to write about how everything is cool. I know it can seem like there is really depressing output [from Copenhagen] musically, like everything is gray all the time. But Copenhagen is not all gray. Some people are positive. But I don't feel like expressing that vibe.

Pitchfork: Adrian, how long have you been singing in bands? Your vocal style also has a darkness to it.

AT: I've always been singing since I was a child. When I was a kid I acted as a street musician for a short while with two friends where we sang for money. But I haven't been singing in a band (besides small hopeless projects) before Lower. Perhaps I have a partiality to a darker and more melancholic approach, but it all comes down to my intuition.

Pitchfork: When Lower started there had been a new punk scene forming around Iceage and Anton's other band, Sexdrome. Did you feel somewhat inspired to start Lower because of what was going on musically in Copenhagen?

AT: Personally, I had a secret desire of starting a band years prior to [Lower]. When a few bands around me started to pop up, I decided to take action. First and foremost, I was inspired by the fact that a few people I was acquainted with were playing while I wasn't. Musically, I can't say that I was inspired by the scene, because when we started there weren't that many bands I was aware of-- not like now.

AR: Copenhagen is kind of separated into two underground scenes. There's been a really strong hardcore scene for quite a few years; there was a golden age from 1999 to 2005, but then it kind of died, and there was nothing really going on. And then the scene we are a part of started when Sexdrome and Iceage played our first show together; we just randomly ran into Iceage and the scene grew from that. I think it inspired people to play in bands. Basically, all the bands now consist of 15 to 20 people. It's all inbred.

"All of our shows have been static as fuck: 

no movement, no blood, nothing. It should be that way. 

There is no reason to dance or fuck around in a pit."

Pitchfork: What kind of places do you play shows in Copenhagen?

AR: Most have been at this abandoned car repair shop called Mayhem, which grew out of the experimental noise scene three or four years ago. It was granted by some cultural authority to a bunch of innovative people who wanted to start a workspace for bands and artists that are a little to the side of the mainstream. Our rehearsal room is there, and there's a show space, too. It feels like home. It's just a barren room with nothing except some poles and chairs. Our first show there was a true Copenhagen show, the 29th of June, 2011: Sexdrome, Sejr, Iceage, Love Potion, Redflesh, and Undergang. There are always people around who create stuff.

We've also played regular venues. We played one bigger venue in Stockholm and it was really weird. You are controlled by sound guys who don't really care about the music. They just care about the limits they're allowed to produce [sound] within. It kills the energy. I would rather play for 70 people in a small, cramped place than 300 in a big venue. I don't care much for bigger places. I don't think the other guys do either.

Pitchfork: On "Craver", Adrian is singing about boredom and breaking past it towards something better. Where did the idea for that song come from?

AT: [When writing lyrics] I sit down and twist my brain for a day, and the next day I do likewise. This process can take an hour or several weeks. The lyrics to "Craver" are definitely the ones I'm most satisfied with on Walk on Heads. It's about frustration with boredom and the hope that is created when something new occurs in everyday life. Being in such a situation [myself] pushed me to write about it. I've been very bored and lethargic in periods of my life-- it's one of the worst conditions I've experienced. I'm afraid of ending [up] there again.

Pitchfork: The EP title comes from a lyric on "Pictures of Passion". On the song you also describe this image as "a relic of fascism." What are you singing about?

AT: It's a picture of any show anywhere where one person is the center of attention.

AR: We thought it sounded cool. All of our shows have been static as fuck. No movement, no blood, nothing. It should be that way. There is no reason to dance or fuck around in a pit. The word "fascism" is just a way to express how you feel when you're onstage and you can walk on heads and oppress whoever's watching you. It's not about Lower, though, and I don't think you should bring political issues into it. It definitely doesn't have anything to do with actual fascism of Italy or Germany. It's just an image. None of us are fascists.

Pitchfork: What else are you inspired by lyrically?

AT: What inspires me changes very much from time to time. Right now, I'm very inspired by clichéd imagery and motifs that have swollen pop music lyrics for decades. Something very fascinating-- or maybe awful-- happens when it seems like an artist has a list of certain words that have to be included in their lyrics; the more trite and abused the words are, the better. I also like Scandinavian poets, novelists, and lyricists such as Edith Södergran, Karin Boye,Aksel Sandemose, Tom Kristensen, and especially Cornelis Vreeswijk when it comes to lyrics.

Pitchfork: Adrian, what have you been up to besides Lower?

AT: I'm 23, so it has mostly been school. In 2007, I went to Tanzania, Africa, by myself, where I worked at an orphanage, building toilets. And later on I went traveling down through Tanzania to Malawi; that was a strange experience. Lots of fucked up things happened down there. I almost got kidnapped in Dar Es Salaam. Besides that, I've done what a usual school boy does in Copenhagen: played soccer and watched a lot of movies.

"Objective popularity is not mandatory to fulfill your dreams."

Pitchfork: Did you go to Africa right after high school?

AT: What you call high school, in Denmark we've got something called gymnasium. I went to gymnasium for one year and it was so excruciatingly boring that it almost killed me. So in my desperation I dropped out and got employed with some strange jobs, such as minibar-refiller and porter in a hospital-like facility. I worked for half a year and then went away to Africa.

I had some romantic idea from watching too many political thrillers about expatriates living in foreign countries-- solving diplomatic issues, being the intermediary who would help countries negotiating different interests, [make] peace perhaps. And eventually find myself a beautiful wife who worked with Red Cross or something and settle in Africa.

But I ended up in a fundamentalist Christian organization, which didn't at all live up to my romantic anticipation. I had to participate in prayers every morning [at] 7 o'clock! And I'm not religious, so it was quite unnecessary, plus the preacher spoke Swahili so I couldn't understand a word for an hour or two. After a month, I went traveling through the country. 

The combination of being bored, wanting new experiences, and watching movies like The Constant Gardener and The Year of Living Dangerously made me flee to Tanzania. But when the three months was up, I really wanted to go back to the Danish welfare state. [laughs] I still believe someday in the future I'll end up a diplomat solving different crises. 

Pitchfork: Are there plans for Lower to tour the U.S.?

AR: I don't know what the future holds, but I would like to. I've been admiring bands from Copenhagen touring the States for the last 10 years. But you don't have to be Iceage to do that. You can just trick customs at the airport, go in, and play lots of shows; the DIY way of doing it. Objective popularity is not mandatory to fulfill your dreams. I've heard so many really good stories from bands who just toured for five weeks in a smelly van with nothing but themselves. I'm quite sure it will happen someday, but I only dare to dream of it right now.

Line up :

Kristian Emdal
Simon Formann
Adrian Toubro
Anton Rothstein

Label :

Matador

Tracklist :

01 – Another Life
02 – Daft Persuasion
03 – Lost Weight, Perfect Skin
04 – Unkempt and Uncaring
05 – Expanding Horizons (Dar es Salaam)
06 – Bastard Tactics
07 – Soft Option
08 – Craver
09 – Tradition
10 – Arrows

Album de la Semaine : The Black Angels - Clear Lake Forest

The Black Angels

Clear Lake Forest

Interview des Black Angels, par The Seventh Hex

Kyle Hunt, Alex Maas, Stephanie Bailey & Christian Bland

Having years of well-crafted consistent music The Black Angels continuously impress with an identifiable and alluring sound of exceptional psychedelic rock. We talk to frontman Alex Maas about the band’s brilliant ‘Indigo Meadow’ album, vocal melodies, breeding creativity and more…

TSH: The consistent development and progression of the band is clearly evident with the recent tremendous album ‘Indigo Meadow’. What was the dynamic like heading into the studio for album number four?

Alex: Well we are always happy to be in the studio creating. The mindset was crisp and dreamy. Like most we are always trying new things, so we turned our minds off and floated upstream.

TSH: The album’s outcome truly is infectious – seemingly a more resolute, polished and refined sound. How do you feel the band’s latest album ties in with the evolution of the Black Angels sound?

Alex: To us it’s just another chapter in the fairy tale that we all live. It was a snap shot of us in that moment. Moments later things changed and became blurry for us.

TSH: It’s been mentioned that ‘Indigo Meadow’ was the most collaborative effort to date. Do you feel this adds a more comprehensive level of depth and accessibility?

Alex: I’m not sure? It’s really hard to say, but that would make sense because we had more minds on the creation. So, it seems like it would appeal to more people.

TSH: In terms of the album’s expression and narrative, themes such as politics, love, human connection, and acceptance are mentioned… As a whole what kind of message(s) do you feel underlines the album’s significance?

Alex: I really feel like this album is how we looked at the world during that time. Cautious, scared, in love, tired, happy, paranoid, disappointed, but hopeful. I mean these are feelings that everyone has so it’s not like we are pioneering anything. I guess the underlying message ends with hope and that’s kind of a good feeling to go out on.

TSH: In relation to instrumentation did you take on any particular different directions to allow for a more versatile result?

Alex: Well we kinda go with the rule of whoever can play the part the best for the song. Some melodies were reinstated with different instruments until we found the one that fit. One second Stephanie is playing drums and the next second she is playing viola, next minute she is playing dominoes with Jesco W!

TSH: Was the writing process constructed after jam sessions or written simultaneously with the music?

Alex: Both of those methods are used, not one more than the other.

TSH: What was it like having John Congleton board to nurture the sound?

Alex: Great guy, awesome communicator. He has such a vast knowledge of music and is great at translating ideas into realities.

TSH: I understand you guys had to go through many fuzz pedals to get the unique sound required…

Alex: Yeah! It was like a battle between Bland and Hunt to see who could get the most rare/best sounding fuzz pedals without going broke!

TSH: What’s refreshing and great about the album is throughout many of the songs the vocal melodies take centre stage, which makes for an alluring result. Was there anything different about how you wanted the vocals to be conveyed for the album?

Alex: Well we backed off the verb a bit here and there dove into different alchemy approaches. Stick the vocalist in a well; put the singer in a cage full of rabid chinchillas so on and so forth.

TSH: Was ‘Indigo Meadow’ the natural choice as the album opener? Also, how did the inclusion of a flute from street a market in Morocco come to find its way into the song?

Alex: It was actually John’s idea to open with it. He felt it was a new sound for us and wanted it first. The flute was just sitting there staring at us in the demo process and so we picked it up and blew air into it. The song just begged for flute so we gave the song what it wanted. It was the songs idea.

TSH: Another top standout track from the album is ‘Holland’ with a great soothing tempo, alongside wonderful composition. What kind of motivations do you draw upon to craft such a distinct song?

Alex: First off, thank you! It’s kinda difficult to describe what you are thinking while crafting a song. You are just pushing yourself and the song along until you feel it’s right. It is definitely different than anything we have written in the past so I suppose expanding the boundary was one motivation. I could say that about most of the songs on Indigo Meadow.

TSH: I also wanted to get your views on the impetus behind the splendid ‘Love Me Forever’. Can you tell us how you go about layering and structuring such a progressive song?

Alex: That one was one of those that just came together instantly. Bland started playing the riff, Steph started thumping on the drums and Kyle and I followed suit. It was one of the ones that, if I remember correctly, which I often do not was pretty true to its original form and feel from the first time we ever played it. I feel like Congo wanted us to change keys on the chorus at the end which implied a “Doorsy” feel and we went with it.

TSH: What does the song ‘I Hear Colors (Chromaesthesia)’ mean to you personally?

Alex: It’s about changing the way we interpret, digest, and communicate and relate to music. That song is blue, this one is black that other one over there is red, should we play a primary colour set? Should we play all red and black songs today?

TSH: You’re currently readying the ‘Clear Lake Forest’ EP. What can fans expect from this offering?

Alex: There are a few songs that we reworked from the previous recordings of Indigo and several new songs. Most of which have been rattling around in our minds for a while so we decided to set them free. It is an initial public offering.

TSH: One of the songs made available from the EP entitled ‘Diamond Eyes’ takes on a laidback chilled and pleasant feel. In terms of tone and arrangements, what were you hoping for with the aim of this song?

Alex: Damn I don’t really know…. I mean it is what it is, I know that’s not the answer you probably want, but it is a chilled out song. I like when bands jump from chill to frantic from song to song. That schizo thing is in everyone I believe.

TSH: As a band it’s been mentioned The Black Angels have stated to ‘rethink your preconceived notions’. Do you find it important to encourage people to discover and find a satisfactory meaning in life for themselves?

Alex: Yes, very important to the mental health in all peoples!

TSH: Does living in Austin breed creativity and create drive in general?

Alex: Yes and no. Yes because there is so much support and competition at the same time and no because there is just so much competition and support at the same time. Austin definitely feels to me like there is a growing fire of creativity that is expanding far beyond what I know. We may look back in 10 years and be surprised about what collectively came out of this city on all fronts not just art.

TSH: Is the power of music the perfect form of escapism and release for The Black Angels?

Alex: Yes! The best and most cheap form of escapism, with motive…

TSH: You guys have toured the US and Europe on quite a few occasions. What’s it like for the band to experience different cultures, traditions and ways of life from all over the world?

Alex: As you may assume its very eye opening to see all the differences, but most importantly how similar we all are. We see archetypes of people we know all over the place. Walking down the streets of Munich, “oh there is the door guy from Mohawk’s twin”.

TSH: The Black Angels are often commended for their prolific live performances which generate an amazing intense energy full of captivating skill sets from a band very much in form. Does playing live make you feel liberated?

Alex: Yes, it is liberating, but also uncomfortable. When you can overcome that, which you have to do every time you become liberated. Conquering the fear and sharing music as a ritual is healing.

TSH: Heading forward what kind of exploration do The Black Angels crave?

Alex: “Space: The final frontier

These are the voyages of the Starship, Enterprise

Its 5000 year mission

To explore strange new worlds

To seek out new life and new civilizations

To boldly go where no man or woman has gone before!”

TSH: When The Black Angels are not crafting or creating music how do they like to unwind?

Alex: Like many Americans we like to unwind by studying various types of insects and compare morphology to our own bodies, the bodies of our musical instruments and tally the similarities. With those we generate hypotheses to find the meaning of life, it’s relaxing and soothing. It’s hot!

Line Up :

Stephanie Bailey
Christian Bland
Alex Maas
Kyle Hunt
Jake Garcia

Label :

Record Store Day

Tracklist :

01 – Sunday Evening
02 – Tired Eyes
03 – Diamond Eyes
04 – The Flop
05 – The Occurance At 4507 South Third Street
06 – The Executioner
07 – Linda’s Gone

Album de la Semaine : Young Widows - Easy Pain

Young Widows

Easy Pain

Interview de Young Widows, par Question the Pop

The life and death of Young Widows

What happens when the lights go out for the dark rockers?

Evan Patterson reinvents Young Widows each time. “It’s intentional. The idea of a band releasing the same record over and over again, I’ve always tried to stray from.”

Easy Pain, which comes out May 13, is the third Young Widows studio album guitarist/vocalist Patterson, bassist/vocalist Nick Thieneman and drummer Jeremy McMonigle have made for label Temporary Residence Ltd. since 2008 (a first album with a different drummer and label home was released two years prior).

“Some people always go, ‘I don’t really like the new record’ — it’s because it’s not the same thing as the last one,” Patterson says. “They might not like the mood of the new record, or the general approach to how the entire record flows — but we’ve always tried to make very cohesive albums, rather than just a bunch of songs on a record that don’t make sense together.”

Easy Pain is not a concept album, but there is an overarching theme. “It turned into this whole idea about accepting death. The more you accept death, the more exciting life becomes, and the more you live to your full potential,” he says.

“The last song on the album is called ‘The Last Young Widow.’ In my mind, it’s about a mother birthing a fatherless child, and the mother actually is on her deathbed at the same time as she’s birthing the child. And whether or not she’s going to go to heaven or go to hell, or just die. It’s more about accepting life, being prepared to die, and not worrying about what happens after you die.”

If it sounds like it’s heavy spiritually as well as musically, then you might be on Patterson’s wavelength.

“Yeah, it is, actually,” he says. “It speaks to me more … I feel like my lyrics in Young Widows had been more self-absorbed and more personal, and this record’s not very personal at all. It’s more storytelling. They’re songs I can sing at any point, and they’d still have the same energy and meaning they did when I wrote them.”

He had “a very specific idea” about how Easy Pain should sound, from the instruments to the vocals. One inspiration was the recording of John Lennon’s “How Do You Sleep?,” produced by Phil Spector. Another was Iggy Pop’s album The Idiot; Pop’s vocal approach changed the way he sang this time, as did Patterson’s experience playing in two different bands lately, Old Baby and Jaye Jayle. “I used my voice in ways I haven’t been able to attempt.”

He approached the creative process differently this time around, part of his continued evolution. In the past, Patterson says, he would write down lyrics for the music the band had written together, often working up lyrics from demos.

This time, as the band played their new music live, Patterson sang “jibberish,” sometimes finding words as he vocalized. “I didn’t have any clue what I was saying … Other times, it was just, like, howls and moans that were creating melodies. The whole idea is that I was hoping I would find something I wouldn’t find just sitting down (and) listening to it, writing down lyrics and thinking of melodies that way. Instead, it was more of an organic approach to the live energy of playing the songs.”

Some older songs bring him back to specific moments that have since passed. He doesn’t feel the same anymore, or care as much as he once did. “With these songs, I can feel this way for the rest of my life,” Patterson says. “I feel like I’ve summed up my attitude, the way I feel about life and religion and science and the whole thing.”

In addition to his three bands, his brother Ryan has, for a decade, led the band Coliseum, now also part of the Temporary Residence gang. Evan Patterson agrees music is his religion. “No doubt. I depend on music as an outlet and as a form of expression and family and communication.”

Church, he says, can be going to the practice space, or going to a friend’s house to listen to records. ”A lot of times, where the magic happens, the more spiritual side of playing music, is when you’re sharing it with other people.”

Line Up :

Evan Patterson
Nick Thieneman
Jeremy McMonigle

Label :

Temporary Residence

Tracklist :

1. "Godman"
2. "Cool Night"
3. "Kerosene Girl"
4. "Doomed Moon"
5. "Gift of Failure"
6. "Bird Feeder"
7. "King Sol"
8. "The Last Young Widow"

Album de la Semaine : Thee Oh Sees - Drop

Thee Oh Sees

Drop

Interview de John Dwyer, par Pitchfork TV

Line Up :

John Dwyer
Brigid Dawson
Petey Dammit
Mike Shoun
Lars Finberg

Label :

Castle Face Records

Tracklist :

01 – Penetrating Eye
02 – Encrypted Bounce (A Queer Song)
03 – Savage Victory
04 – Put Some Reverb on My Brother
05 – Drop
06 – Camera
07 – The Kings Nose
08 – Transparent World
09 – The Lens

Album de la Semaine : Swans - To Be Kind

SwansTo Be Kind

Interview des Swans, par Kory Grow de Rolling Stone Music

By KORY GROW

FEBRUARY 14, 2014 10:40 AM ET

Long-running avant-rock bludgeoneers Swans have completed their 13^th studio album, To Be Kind, which will appear on May 13th in a variety of formats — triple LP, double CD, a deluxe CD with a live DVD and a USB stick with "ultimate, high quality" versions of the songs. Frontman Michael Gira says that Swans worked 12- to 14-hour days in a studio just outside El Paso, Texas, to get everything just right. Gira crossed the Mexican border once and visited an El Paso bar on another occasion, but mostly Swans just worked.

"I'm always exhausted," Gira says from his home, just north of Swans' native New York City. "The music," he says, "it just has to be right, so I don't give up. It's fear of failure. It's like strangling an unruly cat."

To Be Kind will contain 10 new Swans songs that — like their Homeric last album, 2012'sThe Seer — will punish and reward listeners for more than two hours. "Some songs are quite melodic," Gira says, "and the emotions are not so severe." The shortest song lasts eight minutes, the longest, "Bring the Sun," is 35.

Since 1982, Swans frontman Michael Gira has crafted music that discomfits his listeners. The slow, mill-like churn of the group's sludge-rock salad days; the pugilistic antipathy that defined its late-Eighties goth period; the stark confrontational lyrics that pierced his own folky non-Swans music; and, most recently, the discordant noise-rock experiments that encompass the band's current incarnation.

"Much to the shock and horror of the engineer, we ended up doing a couple songs totally live in the studio and I suppose the sound quality of those recordings might not be as pristine as it could have been," Gira says. "I think the emotional content is there to a much greater extent than it would have been if we tried to record it in sections." The frontman says, however, that by and large the group recorded To Be Kind at much more tolerable levels than in their early days.

As he looks over the album's track list, Gira says To Be Kind is "more vocal-oriented" thanThe Seer, featuring notable guests like Annie Clark, the soft-voiced chanteuse behind the indie-pop group St. Vincent.

"A couple of years ago, I guess, she became familiar with Swans and became a fan, and I guess she went to festivals and concerts," Gira says. "So since she likes the music and she has a great voice, John [Congleton, To Be Kind engineer] called her up and she came right out. . . She did a great job. She's a really talented singer and a very nice person, I might add."

Gira says he used Clark's voice for a "choral" part. "I use them as a kind of organ part, as an atmosphere that adds overtones to the guitars," he says. "One other song, it's blatantly choral, like gospel."

Another singer Gira is excited to have worked with is Al Spx, a singer-songwriter from Canada who now calls London home and records under the name Cold Specks. "She has a tremendous voice," he says. There's also an appearance from New York's Little Annie, an artist is known for her cabaret singing, on a track titled "Some Things We Do." "I wrote this song that's just strings and a narrated spoken and sung part that we sang together," he says. "I think it works pretty good."

Pressed for examples of what "Some Things We Do" could mean, Gira says, "It's just a list of things that human beings do. I wrote it in kind of a nostalgic, sad, mood, thinking about death. Not in any kind of morose way, just thinking about the past, something autobiographical. I just made a list of things that human beings do." When asked if that was just a mood he was in, he replies, "I have wild and unpredictable mood shifts."

But surely Gira must have had some fun recording To Be Kind. After all, his publicist sentRolling Stone photos of him playing Ping-Pong. "I didn't see that picture," Gira says. "Can I see that one? I want to see how drunk I look."

He inspects the photo and matter-of-factly approves it. At this point in his career, these photos aren't going to run his non-Ping-Pong-playing image. "I don't care," he says in a dry, acidic way, not too different from his voice on three decades of recordings. "I don't have an image."

Line Up :

Michael Gira
Christoph Hahn
Thor Harris
Chris Pravdica
Phil Puleo
Norman Westberg

Label :

Young God, Mute

Tracklist :

01 – Screen Shot
02 – Just a Little Boy (for Chester Burnett)
03 – A Little God In My Hands
04 – Bring the Sun Toussaint L’Ouverture
05 – Some Things We Do
06 – She Loves Us!
07 – Kirsten Supine
08 – Oxygen

09 – Nathalie Neal
10 – To Be Kind