Ten Songs for Another World

(The World of) Skin was a side project of Swans, a vehicle for exploring
different facets of Jarboe and Gira’s vision. Their extraordinary third and final
album was released in 1990 between Swans' über-folk masterpiece of 1989,
The Burning World, and the two 1991 albums dominated by blazing rock
songs: Love of Life and White Light from the Mouth of Infinity.

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The image of Cerberus on the cover is a warning to those who would enter the
other world. These ten songs enchant, terrify and disturb in turn.

Classical instruments account for the difference in sound between Ten Songs
and the albums recorded in 1986. Cello, double bass, Indian oboe, viola and
violin were the additional contributors that left their mark on Blood, Women,
Roses and Shame, Humility, Revenge.

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Only two rock songs appear among the Ten, both with Michael on lead vocal: I'll Go
There, Take Me Home and You’ll Never Forget. They do fit the mould of the albums
Love of Life and White Light from the Mouth of Infinity.

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Michael also takes lead vocal on the folky or alt-folk songs Please Remember Me and
The Child's Right, both mournful and midtempo. Despite its unusually acerbic lyric,
the third, A Parasite and Other Memories gets a gentle treatment which emphasizes
the melody.

The atmospheric lullabies Dream Dream and A Mystery Of Faith have hypnotic
power. Opening with distorted dialogue, Dream Dream flows along in Jarboe’s finest
oneiric delivery with subtle drum sounds in the distance.
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On A Mystery Of Faith, a German narration by Hans Blatter emerges under Jarboe’s
vocal, growing gradually to become the lead vocal which outlasts the music. Blatter’s
monologue – translated from Gira’s English – deals with the concepts of self and
identity through infinite cycles of death and rebirth.

The composition Identity on the Swans album Love of Life might be conceptually
related. Both of them have a sinister undertone, and on Mystery the rhythm of the
German words enhances the hypnotic effect of Jarboe’s vocals.

Two of the Ten are covers and both are spectacular. Jarboe’s interpretation of Drink
To Me Only With Thine Eyes (the poem ‘To Celia’ by Ben Jonson 1573-1637) is
immaculate. And the coda added by Skin makes the track unforgettable: a recital of
The Lord's Prayer over atmospheric rumbling and shortwave static.

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Skin’s version of Nick Drake's Black Eyed Dog opens with eerie breathing, consumes
itself in a howl chorale of real malevolence, and fades away in dog barks. A truly
blood curdling performance.

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The most memorable of the Ten Songs is Everything For Maria, Jarboe’s elegy
for Maria Callas. The song highlights events in the immediate aftermath of the
diva’s death. A brilliant cinematic approach makes events come alive. One feels
the greed and haste of the vultures looting her jewels and tapestries. Scenes of
Callas’ greatest triumphs alternate with the macabre scenes of looting. Then
the Aegean Sea where her ashes are scattered, as final resting place.

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Much of the music on Ten Songs for Another World is delicate in sound if not
in mood and imagery.

The mysticism, the themes and the emotional extremes of late 1980s Swans
manifest here in shades of disquiet, sorrow, regret and resignation.

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LINKS TO DISCOGRAPHIES AND REVIEWS

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ALLMUSIC
www.allmusic.com/artist/the-world-of-skin-mn0001253932

DISCOGS
www.discogs.com/The-World-Of-Skin-Ten-Songs-For-Another-World/release/1623477

Faretti, Claudio
Swans: Liturgie dell'apocalisse
www.ondarock.it/dark/swans.htm

LOS Reviews Skin-Ten Songs For Another World

https://procrastinatingstill.deviantart.com/art/LOS-Reviews-Skin-Ten-Songs-For-Another-World-485825129

The Rock Bible

http://thegreatrockbible.com/portfolio-item/swans-biography/

Scaruffi
www.scaruffi.com/vol4/swans.html

Sound & Vision Thing

http://songslost.blogspot.co.za/2016/10/swans-90s.html

Stosuy, Brandon
Swans: Children of God
https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/7646-children-of-god/

Trouser Press
www.trouserpress.com/entry.php?a=swans

Young God Records

https://younggodrecords.com/products/children-of-god-world-of-skin

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