Details of the new Swans album, The Seer, have been announced.

Two months ago, in an interview with Spin, Gira revealed that the new record from the foundry-punk unit would hold a few surprises – namely contributions from collaborator-for-hire Karen O, as well as members of Low and Akron/Family.

It’s now been revealed that Ben Frost, Mercury Rev’s Grasshopper and former member Jarboe (on backing vocals and “voice collage”) also feature on the record, which incidentally clocks in at around 2 hours.

“The Seer took 30 years to make,” says Gira. “It’s the culmination of every previous Swans album as well as any other music I’ve ever made, been involved in or imagined. But it’s unfinished, like the songs themselves. It’s one frame in a reel. The frames blur, blend and will eventually fade. The songs began on an acoustic guitar, then were fleshed out with (invaluable) help from my friends, then were further tortured and seduced in the studio, and now they await further cannibalism and force-feeding as we prepare to perform some of them live, at which point they’ll mutate further, endlessly, or perhaps be discarded for a while.”

The Seer is due out on August 27 on triple-vinyl, digital and double-CD (cover art picture below); there’s also a special edition, available to order here, that comes with a live DVD.

Tracklist:
1. Lunacy
2. Mother of the World
3. The Wolf
4. The Seer
5. The Seer Returns
6. 93 Ave. B Blues
7. The Daughter Brings the Water
8. Song for a Warrior
9. Avatar
10. A Piece of the Sky
11. The Apostate