The Glowing Man | ||||
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Studio album by Swans | ||||
Released | June 17, 2016 | |||
Genre | Post-rock, experimental rock, drone, noise rock | |||
Length | 118:23 | |||
Language | English | |||
Label | ||||
Producer | Michael Gira | |||
Swans chronology | ||||
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Singles from The Glowing Man | ||||
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Professional ratings | |
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Aggregate scores | |
Source | Rating |
Metacritic | 81/100 |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | |
The A.V. Club | B+ |
Mojo | |
Pitchfork Media | 8.1/10 |
Slant Magazine | |
Sunderland Echo | 9/10 |
Spin Magazine | 8/10 |
Exclaim! | 8/10 |
The Glowing Man is the fourteenth studio album by American experimental band Swans, released June 17, 2016 on Young God and Mute.
The song "The World Looks Red/The World Looks Black" contains lyrics written by frontman Michael Gira that were used in the Sonic Youth song "The World Looks Red" in the album Confusion Is Sex. The music itself, however, is unrelated. The title track has previously been referred to as "Black Hole Man" and "Black-Eyed Man". The song "When Will I Return?" was uploaded to YouTube on May 27, 2016.
Upon its release, The Glowing Man was widely praised by music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from critics, the album received an average score of 81, based on 22 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". Writing for Exclaim!, Griffin J. Elliot called the album "a meticulous exercise in the band's streamlining their abstract sound, taking what they've done before and playing it under a newer, grander spotlight." Saby Reyes-Kulkarni wrote for Pitchfork, "The love in [Gira's] music is as terrible as it is beautiful, a wrenching act of spiritual determination. Swans make this sound effortless, though, in a fitting end to a remarkable chapter of their career."
All music composed by Michael Gira, Norman Westberg, Christopher Pravdica, Kristof Hahn, Michael Harris & Philip Puleo, except where noted.
Adapted from the official Young God Records website: