Extreme repetition is a core feature of Swans’ catalogue, as are transgressive elements (whether that be transgressing musical or social norms). It’s not necessarily there to get across an emotion or vibe, like you said they could do that in half the time (and they have, in fact less than that on albums like The Great Annihilator), but rather to transform the music from simple composition to a primal force. Gira’s MO in many cases is not to simply evoke feeling, but to FORCE an emotional, mental, and *physical* reaction. It’s a provocative and even antagonistic ideology for a band, and for that reason Swans has maintained its underground status despite exploring a broad variety of musical genres and ideas. Gira is always pushing himself and the band forward, and he wants to push the listener along with it. Swans is about sacrifice and transcendence. Another core element is dynamics. Dynamics in volume, dynamics in how certain parts are played (which you mentioned), dynamics in structure. This is how they choose to keep the listener’s interest. Swans is a very organic group. In fact, much of their music morphs over time as they play it live, eventually ending up completely different when they actually record for an album. It has a history behind it that you can still faintly feel in the “final” product. (I say “final” because they have been known to continue to morph songs even after recording an album. For instance, the title track of The Seer morphed into the track Bring The Sun/Toussaint L’ouverture on the next album To Be Kind which further morphed into the title track of The Glowing Man.)

Greatest song ever? Might be. Not my favourite ever, but if anyone asked me what'd be the greatest song ever, this'd be up for contention.

Helpless Child is a rollercoaster ride of raw emotion.

Your lyrical analysis was spot on I think. I see it as Gira singing somewhat literally about a child that is poisoned in the womb by his mother who is abusing drugs while pregnant, and the toxic codependent relationship to follow. The lyrics can be seen as metaphorical as well though and open to interpretation by the listener. The instrumental half I see as the helpless child finding catharsis - breaking free from this toxic relationship and forgiving themselves.

Not only my favorite song from Swans but also probably among my favorite songs ever. The first half is so dark and moody and the second half is just completely entrancing to me. Glad you got to look into Swans here!

This band uses a mixer invented by Herbert von Karajan. Only 3 of them exist in the world today. It was designed to record full orchestras at loud volumes. Pretty interesting "secret weapon." They still use this equipment today on their more recent albums such as The Seer, To Be Kind, The Glowing Man, and Leaving Meaning.

In my opinion, every piece of Soundtracks for the Blind, as great as I believe them to be individually, work on a whole different level in the context of the whole album. Not that they are related, either thematically or sonically, but listening to the album start to finish lulls you into some kind of trance almost, partly because of the runtime (almost 2 and a half hours) but also because of the cumulative effect of all the pieces. The Twin Peaks comparison is pretty interesting, because I feel like the album puts you in a kind of dream state where the boundary of reality starts to fracture, similar to the show.

I found SWANS "To Be Kind" over a year ago. Much heavier than this. Even quite disturbing at times but strangely fascinating.

For me, Swans is like drinking alcohol. Tastes like piss at first but as you are exposed to more and more of it, the subtle notes and flavors really flourish. It took me 6 times to really get this track, and more tries for others. Your reaction is about what I expected, this is totally different than anything out there imo. The more recent albums focus more on atmospheres and long ass slow burners. Definitely not for casual listening and I like to throw everything I know about (not much lol) out the window and embrace the piece as is.

Swans' music is supposed to be challenging, if you're stumped it's working

Late Swans is interesting. Very much one of those singular, original bands doing their own thing in their own world. It takes a bit of a commitment and willingness to go along for the ride, but if you can get into the groove there's not much out there like it. Though late Swans is pretty varied sound/style-wise, they tend to remind me most of a kind of contemporary (and usually much heavier) Pink Floyd but while pulling bits and pieces from other genres like post-metal and noise rock, and their own psychedelic aesthetic. Definitely one of those bands that's more of an experience that requires patience, otherwise you're just going to wonder why these songs are so static and seem to refuse to move or change much. Personally, I'm a bit ambivalent with them as they're one of those bands I have to be in the right mood for, but I have a healthy dose of admiration for their ambition and unwillingness to bend towards anything approaching mainstream/commercial sensibilities. I'm not surprised you struggled with this one given that slow burns have never really been your thing. I also think it's just a fact that tracks like these aren't amenable to critical, intellectual analysis and deconstruction; you just have to feel it. That's also why bands like this tend to work better as album listens because a single song (even a long one) usually isn't enough to sink into an aesthetic, tone, emotion, mood, etc.

fwiw the first time i listened to this i hated it, felt it was pointless, but probably 6 months after that i listened again and fell in absolute love with it. The problem with experimental is that it breaks the human tradition of stories and art referencing the past, you know what to expect, the dragon always dies at the end and the empire always falls, but with experimental it has to create its own mythology and backing for you to enjoy the work fully. But once it does, it really is unlike anything else.

The lack of structure is kind of the point in "No wave" music. heh

Wow, didn’t expect this one! But I have been secretly hoping for it, thank you very much!

Ha. I was wondering what Bryan would think of this one. This album has an interesting creation story which explains some of what you are hearing. It integrates new material with old. Here is a snippet from Swans website on the old piece: “…but there’s also a huge amount of sounds and recordings that Jarboe and I collected over the years. These are reassembled, looped, mangled, and in many cases overdubbed upon to create new pieces of music… I really set my own trap, dug my own grave on this one. There was SO MUCH material to deal with, to sift through (whole trunks full of decomposing, moldy cassettes and discs with samples and sounds), and the task of making it into something coherent was at times debilitating. Really like climbing up a mountain of sand. I don’t remember why I set this goal for myself, to somehow incorporate such a ridiculously disparate amount of material. “. I’m sure the moldy cassette tapes contributed to the muffled sound.

Underrated band! Easily one of the most beautiful songs I’ve ever heard!

I absolutely love this song, and the whole album as well. Both are my favorites of all time. Happy to see you analyze it!

While in the depths of heroin addiction I listed to soundtracks for the blind alot. This song always felt as pure as it could get in embodiment of how being ravaged by an addiction feels. Living for a feeling. The only thing you trust and seek is clearly destroying you and faking your existence.

this song is the perfect mix of post-rock and gothic country. I'm not sure if gothic country was even a thing when this album came out, Gira is a pioneer.

🤔. I really liked the lyrical breakdown the most from this reaction. I've never heard of this band. I didn't dislike it and I think if I were to put in earbuds and sit with the song, I could find it kind of meditative possibly. I will have to listen again.

Few artists are as capable of such a range of gentleness and beauty, pain and brutality. I really appreciate you giving them some of your time, as not many people are even aware of them.

Oh damn I did not expect this. I wanted to comment saying this, which is definitely a hot take, their live version on their SWANS ARE DEAD live album is the superior version of Helpless Child. They ripped open the stratosphere. On your channel you haven’t seemed to explore the extend of Swan’s analogous surging noise, if you decide cover them more on the channel I hope you enjoy exploring their different facets. There’s too much to say about Swans as they are my favorite band and I really hope you’ll revisit them again. Have a great day Bryan and thanks for reading this.

About to watch this reaction but I wanna leave my comment beforehand since I can pretty much guess what your criticisms will be (excuse my hubris!). I just want to provide a little context. This is a 15 minute track off a 2 and a half hour record that is meant to be heard in one sitting to truly appreciate. It's a labyrinthine work that can really get under your skin (assuming of course that you're interested in that kind of thing) and it's hard to look at even this track critically (one of the few "conventional" songs on the record). Consider at least that it's not meant to be a song you listen to in a vacuum, jam out to it, then go about the rest of your day. I'm not just saying "oh it's a concept album yadda yadda". A lot of people say for example that Queensryche's operation mindcrime is best enjoyed if you listen to the whole thing so you can follow the story and appreciate the full impact of the narrative but besides that the songs still stand on their own as rather conventional and enjoyable metal songs. This isn't so much the case with soundtracks for the blind. Consider also that this is the first time we hear Gira singing on the record as this track is preceeded by two experimental tracks that really give you a sense of the atmosphere and themes of the record but this is the first track that presents that in a more conventional, musical way. So it's sort of a second introduction to the whole thing. Given that context, I would also say the repetition is meant to put you in a trance that will carry you through the rest of the experience. That goes back to my opinion that you don't just put this track on, jam to it and carry on with your life. I consider this the pulsating heart of the record even though it's not my favorite track here and I appreciate the record as a whole, helpless child is something more human you can cling to early on amidst the dissasociative mood the rest of the record creates.

To me, this song is about musical hypnosis or trance. The repetitiveness combined with the otherwordly guitar tones induce this kind of flow state in me. Some kind of meditativeness. And as the outro is getting more and more intense, the trance gets also more intense. But yeah, I still think the song could have been produced better and there could be more compositional elements. Nevertheless, I think it's very unique music and expressing this feeling of desperation quite powerfully

I can see your face already creating an "opinon" mid way through the outro, instead of abandoning yourself to the waves of emotions that emerge from that. This is why first listens on youtube mostly suck

SWANS is an acquired taste, but they are definitely one of the best bands to ever exist in the world. You have to get used to their music. When I heard helpless child for the first time, I reacted just like you... This song gets better with each listen.(I apologize for my bad English)

PLEASE react to The Sound, it’s another song they made. It’s similar to this but I’m my opinion it is better.

Respect your attuned ear and astute musical observations, but Swans isn’t to be listened to from a technical standpoint. How does it make you feel? What does it do to your body, your mind? Those are the questions to ask, not technical compositional ones. I promise Michael Gira wasn’t thinking about things like that, he just wanted to express himself fully and without compromise. Therein lies the genius and power of Swans.

Love this song

pure poetry

you need to react on full album of them, Swans - The Glowing Man album or Swans - the seer album, Both album will change your mind about music i guarantee that

I find the song incredibly beautiful

I suspect Johnny Cash did trip a time or two. Gustav!

I guarantee you that this song will make sense with the rest of the album. Listen to the full album at some point, you'll be surprised

This video is my 5,000th like on KZfaq

Ooo, Helpless Child...

It's a "hangover-cry baby-depressed person-trying to leave the fault to someone... and that is my dad." Well, he feed me with gasoline...

Dude sounds like john frusciante

Zero reaction and zero int.

Their best and last good album. Gira ran his one and only musical idea into the ground.

Boring