''What We Did'' is a collaborative studio album by

Swans Swans are birds of the family Anatidae within the genus ''Cygnus''. The swans' closest relatives include the geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form the tribe Cygnini. Someti ...

frontman

Michael Gira Michael Rolfe Gira (; born February 19, 1954) is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, author and artist. He is the main force behind the New York City musical group Swans and fronted Angels of Light. He is also the founder of ...

and Windsor for the Derby member Dan Matz. It was released on November 13, 2001 through Gira's

Young God Records Young God Records is an independent record label formed by Michael Gira in 1990 that specializes in experimental, avant-garde and often non genre-specific releases. The label was named after an EP released by Gira's band Swans called '' Young Go ...

label.

Musical style

''What We Did'' has a considerably more pop-oriented and accessible sound, compared to Gira's other solo works. The majority of the lyrics on the album were written by Matz.

Critical reception

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

critic Thom Jurek described the album as "a finely wrought album of relayed styles and layered textures enfolding one another into a music that could have only been made by these two men, with a small host of guests who appear intermittently," and further stated: "The songs here are all questions that are more pronounced after their seeming narratives have entered back into the silence from whence they came." Daphne Carr of ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to ...

'' wrote: "The rewards of this record aren't reaped through immediate digestibility, but through repeated suggestion. Still, this is by far the most palatable of Gira's growing mass of output and an indication of continued innovation in collaborating with those whose moods, ideas, and melodies augment his own dark brilliance." Philip Sherburne of Wondering Sound described it as "one of the quietest albums in Michael Gira’s catalog."

Track listing

Personnel

– vocals, performance, production * Dan Matz – vocals, performance, production * Anna Neighbor – backing vocals (4, 5, 12) *

James Plotkin James Plotkin is an American guitarist and producer known for his role in bands such as Khanate and OLD but with an extensive catalogue outside these bands. He has played guitar for Phantomsmasher and Scorn and continues to remix tracks for ban ...

– guitar, vocals (1, 2)

References

External links

* {{Authority control 2001 albums Michael Gira albums Young God Records albums Albums produced by Michael Gira Collaborative albums