White Light from the Mouth of Infinity

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The opening track “Better Than You” almost says it all: Starting with the wail of an infant, then suddenly crashing into surging music that mixes quick, energetic drums with bells and other instruments, the song turns into a dramatic acoustic guitar/percussion piece with Gira’s brooding voice and Jarboe’s haunting backing; after some re-developments of the themes, it ends with a beautiful restatement of the sung section with additional guitar and bell sounds. At once incredibly destructive and astoundingly life-affirming — and worth the entire Burning World album several times over — “Better Than You” demonstrates that Swans had emerged from their major-label fiasco even more powerful and artistic than before, aiming for an awesome, all-encompassing majesty in their music that the admittedly hypnotic earlier versions of the band, in their brute forcefulness, simply could not have achieved.

Tracklist

1 Better Than You
2 Power and Sacrifice
3 You Know Nothing
4 Song for Dead Time
5 Will We Survive
6 Love Will Save You
7 Failure
8 Song for the Sun
9 Miracle of Love
10 When She Breathes
11 Why Are We Alive?
12 The Most Unfortunate Lie
13 Blind