The only downside I see about the monumental revival of Swans is that some will forget the genius of Angels of Light. At first listen, the band sounds nothing like the bleak pummeling dirges of Michael Gira’s former band’s early years. And it doesn’t resemble the deep melancholic songs of the later part of their career, either.
But Angels of Light made beautiful music. Not beautifully drenched in sorrow, at least not exclusively. On their last album (to date), We Are Him, some songs, like “Sunflower’s Here to Stay,” are relatively “bright” and comparatively “happy.” However, they use repetitive structures characteristic of Swans albums like Filth or Cop, and there’s also a bit of country influence present, adding some Southern gothic flavor.
Angels of Light remind me a bit of Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds. Both are more conventional projects formed after their nihilistic bands imploded. Both embraced warmer tones. The difference is that Nick remained wallowing in darkness while Gira preferred to widen his scope, to explore feelings that could be both noble and sad, sometimes in the same song, as in the case of “Untitled Love Song.”
In this sense, Angels of Light exist in a gray area, expressing something neither black nor white. It’s as complex and as gradated as human emotion, something Gira needed in order to achieve the transcendent spirit that can be heard in Swans’ The Seer. That’s why one can’t listen to something like “Untitled Love Song” and not feel drenched in total brightness while tragedy unfolds right in front of us.