Photo by Matias Corral

Praise be! A union of mightiness has come to pass! It is nuclear fusion in musical form! Yep, Mute have revealed that they'll be releasing the next album by Swans. To Be Kind weighs in at over two hours long, and will feature guest vocals from Little Annie, Cold Specks and St Vincent. Says Michael Gira, "A good portion of the material for this album was developed live during the Swans tours of 2012/13. Much of the music was otherwise conjured in the studio environment."

You'll be able to buy the album on triple vinyl, compact disc (both deluxe with a live DVD and double CD), digital and perhaps on USB drive too. "In addition, I am thinking of releasing it as a USB 'stick' / flashdrive (with special packaging), so that this ultimate, high quality version can be listened to from beginning to end, without interruption (the album is a little over two hours long)", M Gira said. The album is to be released via Young God in the US, and Mute in the rest of the world.

Speaking about the special guests on the LP, Gira said "[they] include (among many others): Little Annie (Annie sang a duet with me on the song 'Some Things We Do', the strings for which were ecstatically arranged and played by Julia Kent); St. Vincent (Annie Clark sang numerous, multi-tracked vocals throughout the record); Cold Specks (Al contributed numerous multi-tracked vocals to the song “Bring the Sun”); Bill Rieflin (honorary Swan Bill played too many instruments to list here, ranging from additional drums, to synthesizers, to piano, to electric guitar and so on. He has been a frequent contributor to Swans and Angels of Light and is currently playing with King Crimson)..."

Gira added "I love you!" Daniel Miller of Mute said "I can't tell you how pleased and excited I am to be working with Michael again, the live shows he has been performing with Swans since they reformed have been utterly outstanding and like nothing else I've seen or heard before.”