Tuesday, March 01, 2016

Swans swansong under a cloud

No sooner had I written about the unsurprisingly "epic" nature of the forthcoming (and final) Swans album than its creator Michael Gira was accused of rape by Larkin Grimm, a folk artist and one-time Gira protege who was signed to his Young Gods label. Gira responded by indignantly branding the accusation a "slanderous lie" and a "horrible slur", and his wife Jennifer weighed in too, publishing a statement on Facebook claiming to have written proof in Grimm's own hand that the charge is baseless. Grimm has, however, refused to back down and retract the accusation, instead choosing to reiterate it.

Regardless of the truth or otherwise of the allegations, the attendant furore threatens to completely overshadow and engulf the release of the album - and, beyond that, to blight the considerable legacy of a band that should really be remembered fondly.

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