''We Were Alive!'' is a live album by

folk rock Folk rock is a fusion genre of rock music with heavy influences from pop, English and American folk music. It arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music re ...

band

Angels of Light Angels of Light was an American neofolk band that was formed circa 1998 by singer-songwriter and musician Michael Gira after he disbanded Swans, the group he had founded in 1982. The band has marked a distinctly different style for Gira sinc ...

. It was released in 2002, and contains two songs previously recorded by

Swans Swans are birds of the genus ''Cygnus'' within the family Anatidae. 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. Sometim ...

. It was limited to 750 copies on release. The earnings from the record sales were used for the production of Angels of Light's next studio release, ''

Everything Is Good Here/Please Come Home ''Everything Is Good Here/Please Come Home'' is the third studio album by Angels of Light. It was released on March 4, 2003, via band leader Michael Gira's own record label, Young God Records. Produced by Gira himself and engineered by Mart ...

''. The same funding strategy was subsequently used by Angels of Light frontman

Michael Gira Michael Rolfe Gira (; born February 19, 1954) is an American singer-songwriter, composer, author and artist. Now based in New Mexico, he founded the band Swans, in which he sings and plays guitar, in New York City in the 1980s at the height of ...

's other band

, starting in 2012 when the band released their live album, '' We Rose from Your Bed with the Sun in Our Head'' to fund their then-upcoming album ''The Seer''.

Critical reception

Ned Raggett of

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

wrote: "The sound quality sometimes results in a distanced overall mix (it combined desk recordings with a live room mic), which often can bury Mullins' quieter drum work to the point of sensing it rather than hearing it. It's unfortunate but not crippling, and in ways actually gives ''We Were Alive!'' a weird texture that's worth a listen." Peter Marks of ''

Release Magazine ''Release Magazine'' is an independent alternative music online magazine based in Gothenburg, Sweden. It was born in Umeå in 1986. The first years it was run by Britta Näsman as an A5 fanzine A fanzine (blend word, blend of ''fan (person), ...

'' stated: "Delicate interludes in the midst of absolute chaotic cruelty which would make

Glenn Branca Glenn Branca (October 6, 1948 – May 13, 2018) was an American avant-garde music, avant-garde composer, guitarist, and luthier. Known for his use of volume, scordatura, alternative guitar tunings, minimal music, repetition, drone (music), dronin ...

blush."

Track listing

Personnel

;Angels of Light *

– vocals, guitar, production ;Contributors *

Dana Schechter Bee and Flower is a band founded in New York City in 1999 by singer-songwriter, bassist, animator, illustrator, composer and producer Dana Schechter. Schechter formed the band while also a member of Michael Gira's band Angels of Light. Bee and ...

– bass, piano, vocals * Larry Mullins –

Farfisa Farfisa () is a manufacturer of electronics based in Osimo, Italy, founded in 1946. The company manufactured a series of compact electronic organs in the 1960s and 1970s, including the Compact, FAST, Professional and VIP ranges, and later, a se ...

Marimba Lumina Marimba Lumina is a MIDI controller developed by American engineer Don Buchla that lets a musician play music via a control surface based on the layout of a marimba. History Joel Davel and Mark Goldstein were the co-developers of the design an ...

, drums *

Thor Harris Thor Harris (born February 7, 1965) is an artist, sculptor, musician, painter, carpenter and handyman. He was the percussionist for Swans (2010–2016). He has performed with Shearwater (2001–2010), Bill Callahan, The Angels of Light, Li ...

–

vibraphone The vibraphone (also called the vibraharp) is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using Percussion mallet, mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone ...

hammer dulcimer The hammered dulcimer (also called the hammer dulcimer) is a percussion-string instrument which consists of strings typically stretched over a trapezoidal resonant sound board. The hammered dulcimer is set before the musician, who in more tradi ...

autoharp An autoharp or chord zither is a string instrument belonging to the zither family. It uses a series of bars individually configured to mute all strings other than those needed for the intended chord. The term ''autoharp'' was once a trademark of t ...

, piano, percussion

References

External links

We Were Alive! on Young God Records
{{Michael Gira Angels of Light albums 2002 live albums Young God Records live albums Albums produced by Michael Gira Crowdfunded albums