My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky
by Swans

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Swans bestography
My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky is ranked 9th best out of 40 albums by Swans on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by Swans is To Be Kind which is ranked number 261 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 6,098.
(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).
Listen to My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky on YouTube
My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 80 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky rankings
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 6 hours ago)
| Year | Source | Chart | Rank | Rank Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Top 79 Music Albums of 2010 | 41/79 | 2 | |
| 2026 | Top 37 Music Albums of 2010 | 14/37 | 3 | |
| 2026 | cicadelic | Blow Up Critics Playlist 2010 | 10/50 | - |
| 2026 | jdizzle123456 | Top 100 Music Albums of 2010 | 23/100 | 4 |
| 2026 | Vasco | Top 100 Music Albums of the 2010s | 66/100 | 7 |
| 2026 | cicadelic | Top album des blogueurs 2010 | 2/20 | - |
| 2026 | cicadelic | Minds Like Knives Top 25 Albums of 2010 | 11/24 | - |
| 2026 | Top 75 Music Albums of 2010 | 2/75 | 5 | |
| 2026 | Post-Rock | 87/100 | - | |
| 2026 | vruslov | Top 86 Music Albums of the 2010s | 15/86 | 17 |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 124 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 347 | |||
My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky collection
Showing latest 20 members who have this album in their collection | Show all 42 members
My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky ratings
Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AVwhere:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.
Showing latest 3 ratings for this album. | Show all 189 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 09/20/2026 17:24 | 1,819 | 82/100 | |
| ! | 09/09/2026 13:44 | 23,375 | 69/100 | |
| ! | 08/05/2026 09:06 | 7,795 | 48/100 |
Rating metrics:
Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)
This album is rated in the top 8% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 75.0/100, a mean average of 74.3/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 75.2/100. The standard deviation for this album is 14.5.
My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky favourites
Showing latest 10 members who have added this album as a favourite | Show all 13 members
My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky forum mentions
My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky comments
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This is the Swans album that is most overlooked and forgotten about due to all the praise that gets heaped on the albums to come. There are genuinely brilliant moments on this record such as the fantastic 'Jim' and the transcendent 'No Words/No Thoughts'. Swans set the blueprint for their 21st century brilliance here with this haunting, atmospheric release.
Absolutely stunning in so many places, it is basically the same contrast they did in White Light from the Mouth on Infinity; grandiose loud walls of sound pitted against dreamy folk (albeit this time the loud bits are even louder, and there is now an overt country tinge to the folk bits)
The one problem for me is that My Birth and Eden Prison (both closer to a straitforward rock sound) sound a little awkward for some reason. Unfulfilled intensity perhaps.
After 14 years, again they've put out a record beyond any recent bands achievements.
Frightening and wonderful. Maybe the best Swans album.
I hadn't listened to Swans for a few years. This album was a nice reintroduction.
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