Delve into Michael Gira’s recommended reading list
Michael Gira, the leader of Swans, has crafted a sonic universe that stands apart from any other. Prior to his music career, Gira led a life of remarkable experiences. He emerged as a central figure in New York’s no-wave scene during a time when the city was in a state of decay, and artists sought solace in their craft amidst the chaos.
However, as a true visionary, he would gradually shed the skin of the band’s first and most aggressive period for something more refined. The heaviness has remained, but Gira would metamorphose as an artist, making this side of the band more resounding and all-encompassing while progressively toying with melody, which would see him craft some of the most transcendental and, indeed, affecting compositions of the contemporary era. He seamlessly dances between darkness and light.
Imbuing his music with real imagination, various factors outside of instrumentation have influenced the cinematic essence of his sonics. While Gira notes an early Disney movie as being the catalyst for such unique sensory overloads, outside of film, books have also made an impact on his work. He’s even been kind enough to recommend his favourites to fans directly.
Take the following message from the Swans Facebook account to a fan a few years back. In it, Gira recommended Collected Fictions by the Argentinian master of surrealism, Jorge Luis Borges. A veteran of dreams, nightmares and everything in between himself, there’s no real surprise that he should be such a fan of Ficciones and Labyrinths writer.
This is only the tip of the iceberg, too. In his time, Gira has recommended over 40 books, from fiction to non-fiction, as collated by Goodreads. Whether this be histories, sharp social commentaries from sages such as J.G. Ballard or even an enlightening peek into the life of New German Cinema master Werner Herzog, Gira’s reading list is as eclectic as his musical oeuvre.
Find Michael Gira’s recommended reading list below.
Michael Gira’s recommended reading list:
- Gulag: A History – Anne Applebaum
- Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe 1944-1956 – Anne Applebaum
- Concrete Island – J.G. Ballard
- Crash – J.G. Ballard
- Hello America – J.G. Ballard
- Kingdom Come – J.G. Ballard
- Collected Fictions – Jorge Luis Borges
- Burning Angel (Dave Robicheaux, #8) – James Lee Burke
- Victory An Island Tale – Joseph Conrad
- Werner Herzog – A Guide for the Perplexed: Conversations with Paul Cronin – Paul Cronin
- Blood’s a Rover (Underworld USA, #3) – James Ellroy
- This Storm – James Ellroy
- Widespread Panic – James Ellroy
- Ester and Ruzya: How My Grandmothers Survived Hitler’s War and Stalin’s Peace – Masha Gessen
- The Future Is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia – Masha Gessen
- The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin – Masha Gessen
- Surviving Autocracy – Masha Gessen
- David Goodis: Five Noir Novels of the 1940s & 50s – David Goodis
- In a Lonely Place – Dorothy B. Hughes
- Berlin Noir: March Violets / The Pale Criminal / A German Requiem (Bernie Gunther #1-3) – Philip Kerr
- The Dawn of Christianity: People and Gods in a Time of Magic and Miracles – Robert Knapp
- NADA (Folio Policier) – Jean-Patrick Manchette
- The Morning Star – Karl Ove Knausgård
- If This Is a Man • The Truce – Primo Levi
- Conquistador: Hernán Cortés, King Montezuma, and the Last Stand of the Aztecs – Buddy Levy
- The Star Rover – Jack London
- Fatale – Jean-Patrick Manchette
- Ivory Pearl – Jean-Patrick Manchette
- No Room at the Morgue – Jean-Patrick Manchette
- The Mad and the Bad – Jean-Patrick Manchette
- The N’Gustro Affair – Jean-Patrick Manchette
- The Prone Gunman – Jean-Patrick Manchette
- Three to Kill – Jean-Patrick Manchette
- Collected Short Stories: Volume 1 – W. Somerset Maugham
- Collected Short Stories: Volume 2 – W. Somerset Maugham
- The collected novels and stories of Guy de Maupassant Volume 1 – Guy de Maupassant
- A Little Yellow Dog (Easy Rawlins, #5) – Walter Mosley
- The Devil’s Star (Harry Hole, #5) – Jo Nesbø
- He Died With His Eyes Open – Derek Raymond
- Tenth of December: Stories – George Saunders
- The Handle (Parker, #8) – Richard Stark
- Sketches from a Hunter’s Album – Ivan Turgenev
