Newly Sentient Being Swans

• 1 The End of Forgetting (Live) 39:07
• 2 The Merge (Live) 38:54
• 3 Paradise Is Mine (Live) 13:58
• 4 Newly Sentient Being (Live) 53:23
• 5 The End of Regretting (Live) 14:57
• Total Runtime 02:40:19

Info for Newly Sentient Being

Superb recordings of Swans’ final concert of the “Big Sound” era, the apotheosis of fifteen years of cosmic sonic expressionism, alternately heavenly and debased, visceral and transcendent. Over two and half hours of music, includes a wealth of new material never recorded elsewhere and a DVD of the performance. Up there with the best of Swans’ legendary live records, they close this chapter with love and unbridled passion. Goodbye to this stellar version of Swans: Norman Westberg, Michael Gira, Dana Schechter, Phil Puleo, Pravdica, Larry Mullins, and Kristof Hahn.

Goodbye to this stellar version of Swans. Newly Sentient Being features superb recordings of Swans’ final concert of the “Big Sound” era, the apotheosis of 15 years of cosmic sonic expressionism, alternately heavenly and debased, visceral and transcendent. Recorded November 28, 2025, in Berlin. Over 2 ½ hours of music, includes a wealth of new material never recorded elsewhere and a DVD of the performance. Up there with the best of Swans’ legendary live records, they close this chapter with love and unbridled passion.

“In 2010 I made the decision to reconvene my band, Swans, which I had, years earlier, killed out of frustration, disappointment and exhaustion. Now, I saw a light, a way forward for the music, and I decided to pursue it. Neither I, nor my collaborators in sound had any idea how things would eventually unfold, but it felt necessary and right, so we followed the music where it led. Turns out there was and is an audience for our music, which is often less than accessible in the popular sense of the term, but proved to be nevertheless compelling to a growing cadre of folks seeking the kind of unique experience we have offered. I believe we reached some pretty tremendous highs along the way, where the music became a raging, sentient autonomous beast that played us (and the audience/listener), rather than the reverse. That was the goal all along, to lose ourselves in the swirl. It took a lot out of us, physically and psychically to reach the highest plateaus, but once there, there was nothing on earth like it, and I’m glad we did it. Now this phase is finished. There’s nowhere else to take it, but we seem to have ended on a particularly high note with our final tour of this (now passing) Swans era, and I believe these current recordings convey the sensations and experience of the unique world we forged. For the next phase, I’m moving Swans into something with a decidedly more humble and intimate musical palette, but here now I offer my praise to the righteous group of humans, the musicians that made our final foray into the sonic ether a reality: Norman Westberg, Dana Schechter, Phil Puleo, Larry Mullins, Kristof Hahn, Christopher Pravdica...and I was in there flailing somewhere too. “ - Michael Gira / Swans

Michael Gira, guitar, voice
Norman Westberg, guitar
Dana Schechter, lap steel guitar, bass guitar, loops
Phil Puleo, drums, dulcimer, layout
Larry Mullins, Mellotron, keyboards, synthesizer, drums
Kristof Hahn, lap steel guitar, loops
Christopher Pravdica, bass, loops, Taishōgoto
Additional musicians:
Laura Carbone, additional vocals (track 3)
Lucy Kruger, additional vocals (track 3)

Swans / Michael Gira
is a musician and author best known for his work in Swans, the band he founded in 1981. Swans were often associated with New York City’s avant-garde “no wave” movement of the late ’70s and early ’80s, along with Sonic Youth, Glenn Branca, Lydia Lunch and James Chance. In 1990, Gira founded the Young God record label, releasing albums by Swans, Akron/Family, Devendra Banhart and others. In 1998, he founded the neofolk band Angels of Light. Gira has recorded several solo albums, including Drainland (1995) and the home recordings I Am Singing to You from My Room (2004) and I Am Not Insane (2010). He has published two collections of short stories, The Consumer (1995) and The Egg (2018). In 2022, he published a collection of Swans lyrics, journals and stories entitled The Knot. The 17th Swans album, Birthing, was released in May of 2025.

This album contains no booklet.