Swans – Love Of Life / Amnesia

Having been familiar with the title track of the Love of Life album since its release 19 years ago, the discovery of the extended mix came as a surprise. A powerful, propulsive rock song, the original Love Of Life is characterized by the jangling drone of what sounds like massed acoustic, bass and electric guitars. Michael's voice blends with the instruments whilst Jarboe's vocals weave in and out of the mix, adding a siren-like flavor to this multilayered masterpiece. Stuttering and lilting segments with their corresponding tempo variations alternate on the rock version of Amnesia, a dystopian tale filled with memorable phrases.

The most distinctive aspect of the long versions is the drastic departure in tonality, mood and texture. They lack the internal tension & urgency of the originals, flowing at a consistent tempo while found sounds & samples abound and the vocals are employed like instruments. The longer Love of Life contains Adam Jankowsky's narration from the track Identity but the young boy's voice here lacks the dreamy quality that makes Identity so spooky. After the recital, a loop of what might originally have been 'we're blind and we're polluted' is repeated over and over until the voice of Jarboe rises up again. Ominous metallic and animal noises render the extended Amnesia rather disturbing.

Without a doubt, these two extended mixes are innovatively arranged and aesthetically pleasing but they lack the spirit of Swans, not even remotely resembling the drones on Soundtracks for the Blind. This odd deconstruction of two familiar songs from a legendary album makes the EP an essential item for devoted fans of Gira, Jarboe, World of Skin and Swans.

Two tracks make this EP rare and remarkable: the extended mixes of Love of Life & Amnesia that are far removed from the originals in structure, texture and tonality. With their consistent tempo, wealth of samples and disembodied vocals they lack the urgency & tension of the familiar versions, thus giving a strange, atypical perspective to the sound of Swans.

The short version of Love of Life is a driving, uptempo rock song dominated by the jangling drone of a wall of sound created by electric, bass and acoustic guitars. The male vocal is in synch with the melody whilst the female weaves in and out of the mix, contributing an other-worldly aspect to its multilayered texture.

Adam Jankowsky's narration from the track Identity has been integrated in the extended Love of Life but the clipped enunciation here lacks the oneiric quality of the original. Following the recital, the phrase 'we're blind and we're polluted' is looped over and over until displaced by the choral vocals of Jarboe. Eerie industrial sounds populate the extended Amnesia.

Introspective and gentle, Picture of Maryanne resembles songs like Blind on Gira's Drainland or In The Eyes of Nature and No Cure for the Lonely on the Love of Love album. As far as can be established, the track only appears on Various Failures. This EP is worth having for the bizarre remixes of Love of Life & Amnesia.