Michael Gira founded Swans in 1982. Initially known for their brutal, high-volume onslaughts of sound and the extreme, abject imagery of Gira’s lyrics and his thundering vocals, Swans underwent a series of startling transformations over the next 15 years. After early punishing albums like Filth and Cop, they explored proto-industrial rock with Greed, atmospheric and martial elements on Children of God (1987), acoustic meditations on The Burning World (1989), and grand, melody-dense sonic whirlwinds with White Light from the Mouth of Infinity (1991) and Love of Life (1993), before becoming more dissonant and sharp-edged with The Great Annihilator (1994). Finally, the ultimate statement of that epoch of Swans, Soundtracks for the Blind, combined all of these elements across well over two hours of music. Gira disbanded the group, shifting focus to Angels of Light and his Young God Records label, fostering artists like Devendra Banhart and Akron/Family. In 2010, he revived Swans with My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky to ecstatic critical response followed by The Seer (2012) and To Be Kind (2014), with both earning critical and commercial success, leading to sold-out tours and multiple Billboard chart placements. The Glowing Man (2017) marked the end of that Swans incarnation, with Leaving Meaning (2019) and The Beggar (2023) continuing Gira’s work with an evolving lineup.