So, there I am in a lovely hotel on the lovely, if somewhat hot and dusty, island of Cyprus. “Wonder where the web cafe computers are? Surely, in a lovely hotel like this, they should be free?” I wonder to myself. And off I trot, and find a PC in the “business centre”. Laughing at the Windows Genuine Activation error onscreen, I fire up Internet Explorer (no Firefox on this baby).

“Internet Access Is Charged at €10 per hour” says the screen.

“!&%^£*(&&!!!!” says me.

Which is why it’s been quiet round here. Speaking of quiet, whilst I was away, The Quietus posted a fascinating track-by-track commentary by Michael Gira of SWANS, on their new album My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky, as well as posting a couple of tracks on Soundcloud.

I’ve only had a chance to listen to the penultimate track “Eden Prison”. When news of the reunion/reformation broke, my immediate thought was whether this would be the melodic, though loud, neo-folk of the later incarnation, or the brutal, horribly thundering noise of their ’80’s years. On the evidence of “Eden Prison”, the answer seems to be about 70% the latter, and 30% the former, which is a damn fine proportion. If the rest of the album is as good as this, we might be in for something I hadn’t expected – an unmissable SWANS record. Have a listen below.

Swans – ‘Eden Prison’ by theQuietus

The other point that has to be mentioned is that one of the songs is called “You Fucking People Make Me Sick”. What more can you ask for, eh? The record is out on September 23rd, with a bunch of live shows coming up this year. I’ll be at the London show. With earplugs. At least I won’t be bothered by irritating shitbags talking. I mean, look at the photo above. Would you talk during their songs?

Buy “Children of God/World of Skin” (CD/MP3) (the best Swans record of the earlier, thoroughly unpleasant yet strangely cathartic years)

Buy “Various Failures 1988-1992” (CD) (Pretty decent compilation of the later, folkier years)