The Glowing Man

The Glowing Man is the fourteenth studio album by American experimental rock band Swans, released on June 17, 2016 on Young God and Mute. It is considered the third and final part of a three-album "trilogy", the other two parts being The Seer and To Be Kind.

Background
The song "The World Looks Red/The World Looks Black" contains lyrics written by frontman Michael Gira that were used in the Sonic Youth song "The World Looks Red" in 1983; the music is new, with no relation to the earlier version. Swans and Sonic Youth both developed in the early 1980s post-punk/no wave scene of New York City, and Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore was an early member of Swans appearing on the live album Body to Body, Job to Job (recorded 1982–85, released 1991). The title track for The Glowing Man has previously been referred to as "Black Hole Man" and "Black-Eyed Man" and includes a section of "Bring the Sun / Toussaint L'Ouverture" from the 2014 album To Be Kind. The song "When Will I Return?" was uploaded to YouTube on May 27, 2016.

Prior to its appearance on The Glowing Man, "Frankie M." was part of Swans' live sets as early as 2014, its length and arrangements differing each time it was performed.

Critical reception
The Glowing Man was met with widespread critical acclaim. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from critics, the album received an average score of 81, based on 22 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". Writing for Exclaim!, Griffin J. Elliot called the album "a meticulous exercise in the band's streamlining their abstract sound, taking what they've done before and playing it under a newer, grander spotlight." Saby Reyes-Kulkarni wrote for Pitchfork, "The love in [Gira's] music is as terrible as it is beautiful, a wrenching act of spiritual determination. Swans make this sound effortless, though, in a fitting end to a remarkable chapter of their career." Paul Simpson of AllMusic gave the album four out of five stars, describing the album as "another exhilarating portal into the unknown." Louis Pattison, writing for Uncut, claimed the album is "gesturing towards something more contemplative" and is "certainly weathered by the journey."

In a more mixed review, Rolling Stone's Christopher R. Weingarten stated that "While their long, drawn-out, circling dark clouds remain potent, ultimately The Glowing Man is the weakest of the three powerful epics they’ve released since 2012."

Several music criticism websites included The Glowing Man on their lists of the best albums of 2016. Rockdelux ranked the album at twelfth in their top international albums of the year. Sputnikmusic ranked it at thirty-eighth, with staff member Raul Stanciu writing that "[The Glowing Man] takes an important step forward for Swans, thus deserving its place as another significant achievement in their discography." The Quietus placed the album at eighty-seventh on their list, with writer Lior Phillips writing "the instrumentalists ripple out in meditative layers, never covering over or distracting from it, but rather reinforcing."

Personnel
Adapted from the official Young God Records website:

Swans
 * Michael Gira – vocals, electric and acoustic guitar
 * Kristof Hahn – lap steel guitar, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, vocals
 * Thor Harris – percussion, vibes and bells, hammered dulcimer
 * Christopher Pravdica – bass guitar, vocals
 * Phil Puleo – drums, hammered dulcimer, vocals
 * Norman Westberg – electric guitar, vocals
 * Bill Rieflin – drums, piano, synth, Mellotron, bass guitar, electric guitar, vocals (credited as "Hitman and 7th Swan")

Guests
 * Jennifer Gira – lead vocals on "When Will I Return?"
 * Okkyung Lee – cello on "Cloud of Unknowing"
 * Bach Norwood – double bass
 * Kaela Sinclair – backing vocals
 * Katrina Cain – backing vocals
 * Buffi Jacobs – cello
 * Daniel Hart – violin
 * Gerald Jones – mandolin, banjo
 * Stuart Mack – trumpet
 * Joakim Toftgaard – trombone
 * Rachel Woolf – flute