To Be Kind
by Swans

From doombringer 08/03/2025 12:03 | #310393

Being familiar with Bands like `Einstürzende Neubauten` ; `Throbbing Gristle` or `Socialiastisches Patientenkombinat` i have to admit : I am too dumb for this piece of work ( or music ? ) from `Swans` . I really liked `Soundtracks for the Blind` (1995 ?) but `To be kind` is (to be kind) : Awful !
PS : So much for adding controversy and having a different opinion ...

This group are the masters at creating long, grand and rich compositions that just blow me away every time I listen to them. My one criticism is that you do need to be in the right mood to listen to Swans but when you are there is nothing better than this group. They are just simply sensational and this record might be their peak. Instrumentally, it is diverse and full of depth with there being so much for us to explore and get stuck into. The guitars are brilliant and make up the core of this release with there being some outstanding performances on a whole range of guitar types. This is backed by what is possibly my favourite part of the record which is the percussion as it is stunning and feels so unique to this group. Then we have the countless other performances and instruments scattered amongst the release which all put on a stellar show and combine to form this colossal record which feels like a monumental experience. This is one of the things I love so much about Swans and that is that their music and albums feel like they transcend music and become something else entirely. They are just so large in scale and ambition that it is tough to even compare them with other artists. Overall, this is a 2 hour demonstration of the experimentation and musical mastery of the group called Swans and it deserves all the praise that it receives.

From thirstyDog 07/31/2022 03:10 | #287977

A Little God In My Hands is fucking nuts.

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From VictorVale 11/25/2021 13:45 | #276679

Desconstrução, reconstrução, ecos e marteladas desse processo musical! Incrível!

Oxygen is just one of the best songs of all time!

From teague 09/04/2021 17:44 | #273299

The deconstruction of rock. I really need to meditate on this to appreciate it fully.

From Timestarter 06/29/2020 14:36 | #254738

Fav. Tracks:

- Screen Shot
- Bring The Sun / Toussaint L'Ouverture
- Oxygen
- To Be Kind

From DriftingOrpheus 03/30/2020 23:00 | #249314

Throughout their extensive history, alternative rock pioneers Swans have made a habit of metamorphosing, trading in bone-crushing no-wave anthems for folk-inspired, religiously-tinged ballads. In 2010, Swans emerged once more with My Father will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky, another drastic change in form and direction, prioritizing prolonged excursions drenched in post-rock fueled repetition. This formula was the basis for 2014's To Be Kind, an album that championed the creative advantages of welding moments of ear-splitting fortissimo and hair-raising delicacy. Take A Little God in My Hands for example. Even the most well-traveled listeners have to be taken back by the atomic force of the horn-powered flurry that kicks off the middle of the track. To Be Kind showcases Swans not merely dabbling in a musical style unseen in their discography, but perfecting it.

The centerpiece is the 34 minute odyssey, Bring the Sun/Toussaint L'Ouverture. A track detailing a Haitian slave revolt with all the ferocity one could imagine. Incorporating horse whinnies and tribal chanting, the track dares one to ponder the music's inspiration, or even the headspace of the men crafting it. The most "straight-forward" rocker on the album is Oxygen, a song detailing an asthma attack with inertia that never ceases until the horn-soaked climax.

Rarely has an album been so visceral and so well-realized simultaneously. The frightening aspect behind it all is that it seems to flow through the band so effortlessly, almost as vessels for transcendent music powered by an unseen force. While its not a record for the conventional listener, you'd be hard-pressed to find an audiophile not displaced by To Be Kind's translucent beauty, or not horrified by its unfettered explicity. The album is simply a monolith of modern alternative music.

"May planets crash, may god rain ash, to sear our skin, to fold us in
Kneeling close, seeking hands, our blood is warm, but what comes next?"

-Kirsten Supine

Standout Tracks:

1. Oxygen
2. She Loves Us!
3. Screen Shot

101.8

This whole record blew me away. It's an absolute masterpiece, in my top 5 for AOTD. The relentless repetition of The Seer reaches new depths on this record, whose sound I can only adequately describe as colossal. An absolute must-listen