After adding a string of dates in North America and Europe this summer, Swans’ frontman Michael Gira has told fans to expect not one, but two new records from his thirty-plus-year-old band in the near future.

In a Facebook message, Gira announced plans for a live album taken from the band’s endless run of gigs in support of last year’s heavyweight masterpiece The Seer, to be followed by a new studio album comprising some of the material they’ve debuted on the road.

The studio album “will move forward from the live versions you’ve possibly witnessed”, he said, adding that there’ll be a bunch of as-yet-unheard material too. [via CoS]

Here’s the full message:

thanks to all who came to our recent shows in europe. it means the world to us to be in the center of the storm with you… it is a life giving, regenerative event for us to make this music, and my hope is that a positive effect is shared by all. thank you for allowing us to make a fresh world in real time. your involvement means everything! … a few more of these short tours are upcoming, then a live album (hand made), then a new studio album using the live versions of these new songs you may have experienced as a starting point. so, the studio album will move forward from the live versions you’ve possibly witnessed (which have already changed nightly in the recent tour-s), and there will also be studio-only songs as well. we feel blessed to be able to do the thing we love, and profoundly moved that some people on this earth find something of value in our work. thank you! – michael gira / swans

Check out FACT’s interview last year with one of rock’s most terrifying frontmen, in which he describes Swans as “a 300-pound ape on my back, chewing my head”.