마이클 지라(스완스) 인터뷰

어머니께서 우연히 들은 지라Michael Gira의 창법이 꼭 스님들이 부르는 걸 연상시킨다고 해서 관련 검색어로 구글링 하다가 발견한 인터뷰.

작년에 어쩌다가 스완스Swans의 공연을 2번 본 적이 있었는데, (맙소사) 두번 다 세상에서 가장 시끄러운 공연이었다(심지어 마블발 보다도 훨씬 더). 한번은 브루클린의 Warsaw 에서. 두번째는 시카고 PMF 에서.

하지만 마냥 시끄럽기만 한 공연들이 종종 난삽하게 들리고 마는데 반해, 스완스의 공연은 20분 동안 같은 곡을 연주하면서도(혹은 10분 동안 앰프를, 속된 말로, 조지기만 하면서도) 놀라운 황홀경을 선사해주었다. '인더스트리얼한 그루브가 더해진 뼈만 남은 로큰롤'(락앤롤이라 쓰던가?)이 내가 공연 당시에 받은 인상이었다. NIN의 '인더스트리얼' 느낌이 살아있긴 하지만 스완스의 그루브는 좀 더 전통적인 로큰롤의 그것에 가깝다. 뼈만 남은 로큰롤이란 얘기는 스완스의 음악을 들으면, 부차적인 것들은 전부 빠진 채, 로큰롤의 원초성, 파괴성만 남았다는 뜻에서 한 말이다. 무대에서 집중한 스완스를 보면 정말 '우락부락한 근육 덩어리' 같았다.

 일부만 발췌. 인터뷰 전문도 재미있다. 중간중간 인터뷰어가 지라를 꾀어내러 많은 유도심문을 하지만 지라는 걸려들지 않는다ㅋㅋㅋ

Of course Michael Gira loves Lars von Trier; Swans’ avant-garde leader and the controversial director have a lot in common. Both make visceral, sprawling works that abrade on the surface but eventually reveal themselves to be deeply humanitarian. One song in particular from Swans’ new record, To Be Kind, took direct inspiration from von Trier’s 2011 film, Melancholia. 

Swans’ name itself highlights the contrast between the beautiful and the grotesque; the idea is that swans are very pretty to look at and very mean once you get close. Swans the band is sort of the opposite. The enormity of the songs combined with Gira’s unmistakable growl requires heavy listening, but once you break through the music’s skin, something warm and gentle emerges.

(여기까진 소개글)

That would be amazing. I can’t believe no one’s approached you to do that.

I can’t either. There is a song on this record, which is a tribute to a scene in a beautiful movie I saw recently, the movie Melancholia by Lars von Trier. I think it’s utterly beautiful. The song “Kirsten Supine”, that’s an homage to the scene where [Kirsten Dunst] is lying naked on the mossy stones bathed by the light of the malevolent planet.

(...)

I don’t know if you’ve heard this, but there’s an urban legend going around the internet that someone put on the song “The Seer” on a digital jukebox at a sports bar and totally cleared out the place. I’m not sure if it’s true, but it touches on something that people have been noticing, which is that Swans are now getting recommended by the same people that are recommending Kanye West or Sky Ferreira, these big budget, mainstream albums. Blog culture sort of smashes everything together and puts it all on one plane, which I get the feeling wasn’t the case when you first started making music.

No. We would start a show with 30 people in the audience, and by the time we were finished, there would maybe be five.

(...)

Swans has maybe an unfair reputation for being a very grisly band, a band that makes dark and malevolent music, but I think you probably write about love more than you write about death.

That’s true.

출처 : http://consequenceofsound.net/2014/05/swans-michael-gira-a-brutal-kindness/