Soundtracks for the Blind

Soundtracks for the Blind is the eleventh studio album by Swans, and the final for fourteen years, until 2010's My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky. It was released as a double-CD in 1996. Soundtracks for the Blind, intended, as suggested by the title, to function as a sort of "soundtrack for a non-existent film", is by far Swans' longest and most varied studio effort. The album showcases various musical styles, ranging from stark, nearly gothic minimalism ("Empathy", "All Lined Up"); to epic compositions in the vein of Glenn Branca ("Helpless Child"); musique concrète ("The Beautiful Days"); cinematic post-rock as later popularised by Godspeed You! Black Emperor ("The Sound"); EDM ("Volcano"); ambient music ("Surrogate Drone", "Red Velvet Corridor"); and even punk rock (the live track "Yum-Yab Killers"). Due to the extreme diversity and sudden shifts of musical style, Soundtracks for the Blind could be compared to Faust's The Faust Tapes, although the general mood of the album is far more consistent and less miscellaneous than the latter.

The album is purely a compilation of old sound experiments and live recordings by bandleader Michael Gira, some of which date back to the very beginnings of the band. Some were recorded on tapes, whilst others were to be found on simple casette tapes and floppy disks. Gira described the making of the album as "an extremely difficult and painstaking process". After the album was completed and released, Gira took all of his old recordings that were not used on the album ("A massive amount", says Gira) and disposed them on a nearby dump, leaving them lost forever.

Track listing

Disc one (Silver)

1. "Red Velvet Corridor" – 3:04
2. "I Was a Prisoner In Your Skull" – 6:39
3. "Helpless Child" – 15:47
4. "Live Through Me" – 2:32
5. "Yum-Yab Killers" – 5:07
6. "The Beautiful Days" – 7:49
7. "Volcano" – 5:18
8. "Mellothumb" – 2:46
9. "All Lined Up" – 4:48
10. "Surrogate 2" – 1:52
11. "How They Suffer" – 5:52
12. "Animus" – 10:41

Disc two (Copper)

1. "Red Velvet Wound" – 2:02
2. "The Sound" – 13:11
3. "Her Mouth Is Filled With Honey" – 3:19
4. "Blood Section" – 2:39
5. "Hypogirl" – 2:44
6. "Minus Something" – 4:14
7. "Empathy" – 6:45
8. "I Love You This Much" – 7:23
9. "YRP" – 7:47
10. "Fan's Lament" – 1:28
11. "Secret Friends" – 3:08
12. "The Final Sacrifice" – 10:27
13. "YRP 2" – 2:09
14. "Surrogate Drone" – 2:06

References

1. ^ http://www.allmusic.com/album/r247605
2. ^ http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=2102970
3. ^ http://www.sputnikmusic.com/album.php?albumid=28482
4. ^ http://swans.pair.com/PRESS/rev_STTerror.html

External links

• Swans official website - Soundtracks for the Blind