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Swans’ Michael Gira and Kristof Hahn: EartH, London – Live Review
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Michael Gira and Kristof Hahn
EartH, London
17th April 2025
Last Thursday saw Swans’ Michael Gira and Kristof Hahn set down in London’s iconic EartH midway through their European tour for a rare performance of upcoming material and selected older works.
Known by many for a skull-crushing volume which would frequently distress audiences and crew alike, Gira has taken to bridging full-band tours with more intimate, stripped-back performances. This show, however, was by no means the sonic antithesis to a Swans performance (last reviewed by Louder Than War here). Although it may not have caused the irreparable hearing damage that might befall a reckless Swans concertgoer thinking too much of themselves for ear protection, the duo exercised a surprising ability to summon noise at a volume and frequency which burrowed itself deep behind your ear drums.
The gig opened with a virtuosic solo by Hahn on the lap-steel guitar (for this show entitled London Overture), flooding the art-deco theatre with whirlwinds of noise, in equal parts beautiful and overpowering. The overture could’ve gone on for five minutes or for thirty for all I could tell, and for its duration held us in a state of blissful anaesthesia.
Gira then joined the stage to transition into The Healers, taken from their upcoming album Birthing. Gira’s baritone voice seems to only have become richer with time, and with this his ability to transform an audience into the congregation of a passionate, if a little confronting, pulpiteer. The following three songs were all taken from the upcoming album, including lead single I Am a Tower. The final song of the Birthing batch, Red Yellow, transitioned into A Little God In My Hands, taken from 2014’s To Be Kind, broken up by the occasional check-in with Hahn.
“Pink little lamb, on a granite slab,” Gira called out, emblematic of his wider lyrical fascination with the innocent beside the cruel and violent. The lyricist doesn’t always deal in such abstracts, however, as fan-favourite God Damn the Sun proved in its personal tone and heavy, tangible, subject matter. Hahn was absent for this one, allowing for an especially intimate moment on the arguable standout track from 1989’s The Burning World, an album which the frontman seems to otherwise disown.
Later in the set, Gira went on to remove even his solo guitar from the mix for a brief but powerful a cappella segment, calling out over the audience with his arms rising and convulsing as he delivered the verse. He acknowledged its intensity with a cheeky grin and passing joke before continuing; a casual and friendly demeanour which may well have taken people off-guard, from a man whose craft routinely peers into the depths of the dark and inconceivable. A song like Failure, taken from 1991’s White Light From The Mouth Of Infinity, lent itself particularly well to the new arrangement, with Hahn’s lap steel guitar colliding with Gira’s repetitive strumming to conjure the devastating hypnosis we have come to expect of Swans – an excellent way to close the set.
Gira concluded with a confirmation of a full Swans return to London in November, in what will be the final ‘big sound’ lineup. As this lineup progresses through the fourth decade since the band’s formation, arguably producing some of their most impressive work yet, it seems imperative to make sure you’re there to hear the beating wings of Swans this Autumm, possibly for the last time, if you can.
All North American tour dates (from 4th September 2025) here
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All words by Luke Lee, you can find his reviewer’s archive here.
All words and photos by Naomi Dryden-Smith. Louder Than War | Facebook |Twitter | Instagram | portfolio
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