Abstract

The experimental American band, Swans, formed in 1982, have twice signed to Mute Records, a label which has consistently embraced diversity, refusing to be limited to any one style, aesthetic or ideological viewpoint. In this chapter, I suggest that Swans have developed an ethos in which their music is identified with a work of ceaseless mutation. I draw out their ethical and political sensibility of musical labour as a utopian endeavour. Mute has accommodated this sensibility, finding space alongside its more commercially successful acts for Swans’ less lucrative, speculative attitude towards independent music, which places the premium on performance as much as, if not more, than record production.