Swans – Birthing (2 x CD, Album, Bonus DVD)

Experience the uncompromising intensity of Birthing, the seventeenth studio album from New York City’s legendary experimental rock collective Swans. Released on May 30, 2025, this 2xCD edition comes housed in a brown chipboard digi-pack and includes a bonus DVD featuring Swans Live 2024 (Rope) The Beggar, directed by Marco Porsia, along with Christopher Nicholson’s 2022 documentary I Wonder If I’m Singing What You’re Thinking Me To Sing.

Formed in 1982 by Michael Gira, Swans have undergone a remarkable evolution, shifting from their early brutal noise rock to expansive, hypnotic compositions that challenge and reward in equal measure. Birthing captures this progression at full force, blending pieces developed during the band’s 2023–2024 tour with two new studio recordings.

The result is a sweeping, immersive journey filled with lap steel guitar, hammer dulcimer, Mellotron, saxophone, and Gira’s commanding vocals, brought together under his meticulous production in Berlin. Birthing stands as both a towering culmination of Swans’ all-encompassing sound and a glimpse into a leaner, future direction.

Tracklist:

CD1

1. The Healers
2. I Am a Tower
3. Birthing

CD2

1. Red Yellow
2. Guardian Spirit
3. The Merge
4. Rope: Instrumental
5. Away

DVD

1. M. Gira
2. I Wonder if I’m Singing What You’re Thinking Me to Sing (Live Solo 2022)
3. Swans/(Rope)
4. The Beggar (Live 2024)