New album Birthing to be released by Swans in May followed by European and North American dates

Swans will tour Europe and the UK in autumn 2025 following the release of their seventeenth studio album, Birthing, due 30 May via Mute and Young God Records (North America). The tour begins in Leipzig on 23 October and ends with two nights at Berlin’s Festsaal Kreuzberg on 27 and 28 November. Support is provided by Jessica Moss.

Title: Birthing
Artist: Swans
Genres: Avant-garde, Experimental Music, Industrial Music, Noise Rock, Post-punk
Label: Young God Records

Related articles: Interview with Michael Gira on Swans

The touring line-up includes Michael Gira, Kristof Hahn, Dana Schechter, Larry Mullins, Phil Puleo, Christopher Pravdica, and Norman Westberg. Gira has stated this will be the final Swans tour in what he described as the “big sound” configuration. A North American leg is scheduled for September and October, with Little Annie & Paul Wallfisch joining as support.

Birthing will be released on triple vinyl in a brown chipboard sleeve, double CD in a similar digipack, and digitally. Initial physical editions will include a bonus DVD with the concert film Swans Live 2024 (Rope) The Beggar, directed by Marco Porsia, and the documentary I Wonder If I’m Singing What You’re Thinking Me To Sing, filmed during Gira’s 2022 solo tour by Christopher Nicholson.

According to Gira, most of the material was developed during the 2023–2024 tour, and later rearranged in the studio. Tracks such as “The Healers,” “I Am a Tower,” and “Guardian Spirit” originated from those live sessions. Two pieces, “Red Yellow” and “The Merge,” were created in the studio. The album was recorded at Soundfabrik Berlin, engineered by Ingo Krauss with assistance from Kiron Gaudi, and mixed at Candy Bomber Studio in Berlin. Mastering was handled by Doug Henderson at Micro-Moose.

Contributors to Birthing include Gira (vocals, acoustic guitar, production), Puleo (drums, hammer dulcimer, flute, melodica, percussion), Hahn (lap steel, electric/acoustic guitars, loops, vocals), Schechter (lap steel, bass, loops), Pravdica (bass, taishōgoto, loops, keys), Mullins (Mellotron, synths, piano, percussion, vocals), and Westberg (guitar, loops). Guest appearances include Jennifer Gira, Laura Carbone, Lucy Kruger, Andreas Dormann (soprano saxophone), Timothy Wyskida (drums on “The Merge”), and Little Mikey.

Gira has also announced a solo European tour in April alongside Kristof Hahn. Michael Gira formed Swans in New York City in 1982. The group underwent several transformations across its first fifteen years, beginning with noise-drenched minimalism (Filth, Cop), and evolving through industrial, folk-influenced, and orchestral arrangements (Children of God, The Burning World, Soundtracks for the Blind). After disbanding Swans in 1997, Gira focused on his project Angels of Light and developed Young God Records, releasing material by Devendra Banhart, Akron/Family, and others. Swans was reactivated in 2010 with My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky, followed by The Seer (2012), To Be Kind (2014), and The Glowing Man (2016), all featuring extended line-ups and extensive touring. Since Leaving Meaning (2019), the line-up has remained fluid. The 2023 album The Beggar preceded the current release.

Swans European / UK Autumn Tour 2025

23 Oct – Leipzig, Haus Leipzig
24 Oct – Neunkirchen, Neue Gebläsehalle
26 Oct – Munich, Technikum
28 Oct – Prague, Archa+
29 Oct – Graz, Halle Detroit
31 Oct – Ljubljana, Kino Šiška
1 Nov – Zagreb, Boogaloo
3 Nov – Ferrara, Teatro Comunale
4 Nov – Milan, Auditorium di Milano
6 Nov – Paris, Trabendo
7 Nov – Leeds, Project House
9 Nov – London, Electric Brixton
10 Nov – London, Electric Brixton
14 Nov – Leiden, Nobel
15 Nov – Nijmegen, Doornroosje
17 Nov – Copenhagen, VEGA Store
19 Nov – Oslo, Vulkan Arena
20 Nov – Stockholm, Slaktkyrkan
22 Nov – Tallinn, Paavli Kultuurivabrik
24 Nov – Vilnius, Kablys
25 Nov – Warsaw, Stodoła
27 Nov – Berlin, Festsaal Kreuzberg
28 Nov – Berlin, Festsaal Kreuzberg

Swans North American Tour 2025

4 Sep – Philadelphia, Union Transfer
5 Sep – Washington, DC, The Howard Theatre
6 Sep – Norfolk, The NorVa
9 Sep – Dallas, Granada Theater
10 Sep – Austin, Mohawk Austin
12 Sep – Albuquerque, Sunshine Theater
13 Sep – Tucson, The Rialto Theatre
15–17 Sep – Los Angeles, Lodge Room (3 nights)
20–21 Sep – San Francisco, Great American Music Hall (2 nights)
23 Sep – Seattle, The Neptune Theatre
24 Sep – Portland, Revolution Hall
27 Sep – Denver, Bluebird Theater
28 Sep – Omaha, Waiting Room Showroom
30 Sep – Chicago, Cabaret Metro
1 Oct – Detroit, The Magic Bag
3 Oct – Toronto, Phoenix Concert Theatre
4 Oct – Montreal, Théâtre National
6 Oct – Boston, Paradise Rock Club
7 Oct – Brooklyn, Brooklyn Steel

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