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Swans - "A Little God in My Hands" on NPR's All Songs Considered
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New Mix: The Black Keys, Swans, Metronomy, More This week, hosts Bob Boilen and Robin Hilton play brand new cuts from springtime releases by the well-established and widely adored bands and . Both songs are instantly recognizable: The Black Keys for their spare, punchy, guitar-based pop, and Swans for their epic, densely layered orchestrations. Bob shares music by a New Zealand-based band called Tiny Ruins. That song's airy vocals and restrained instrumentation pair well with a pick from Robin: Dylan Shearer, who channels the folky, quiet side of Pink Floyd on a song called "Meadow Mines (Fort Polio)." Also on the program: The strangely alluring electronica of London's ; and Robin mourns the loss his beloved Jayhawks suffered over the weekend in the NCAA basketball tournament with the soothing sounds of A Winged Victory For The Sullen....
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Swans "A Little God in My Hands" - Pitchfork Best New Track
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Swans "A Little God in My Hands" Young God / Mute By Nick Neyland March 26, 2014 Best New Track Swans didn’t need to gain any more swagger in their step following the supremely confident 2012 album The Seer, but "A Little God In My Hands" indicates there are no limits to where Michael Gira could take this project. His firm hand steers the band through a surprising dip into funk as the song begins—but a version of funk that’s just as sickly and disease-addled as Swans are when they’re closer to the rock firmament. Gira’s vocal sounds like it’s being delivered with a noose slowly tightening around his neck, suggesting all the vital components that run throughout Swans’ music in its many guises: pain, suffering, a wringing of hands to the sky. As the first track to be previewed from the forthcoming To Be Kind, this works as an exit door from The Seer, a way for Gira to demonstrate how his new record won’t simply trail in the wake of that creation, instead taking him and his band into a whole other sphere of hurt. Like the best Swans work, it can be gentle, with subtle builds gradually coiling in the......
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LIVE REPORT: Michael Gira
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The Quietus | Patrick Smith -
Swans reveal new song 'A Little God In My Hands'
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NME | March 22, 2014 -
A Little God in My Hands - Best New Track
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Pitchfork | Nick Neyland