Print Edition: September 10, 2014
Image: Marcin Kutera
I’d never been to the Venue before. It seemed like an odd place, in paper, for Swans to play. I thought they’d surely play at a “seedier” place than a nightclub on Granville (I don’t mean that as derogatory; seedy venues are brilliant in their own right). The dark atmosphere inside, however, suited the sounds to come.
“This place makes me think of
The Social Network,” my friend says. I’ll leave you to interpret that I’ve never seen the movie.
I pointed out the clutter on stage: amps, a guitar, drums, and a singing saw. Behind all that is the pile of gear for Swans (towering above everything else is a gong, and next to it some dulcimers). A man and a woman take their places: the woman on stage right, looking serene as she watches the man on the left begin the procession, working over a tiny synthesizer.