Swan Lake

There is more than one group called Swan Lake. One is house music, the other is an indie rock supergroup comprised of Dan Bejar (Destroyer, The New Pornographers), Spencer Krug (Wolf Parade, Sunset Rubdown, Frog Eyes) and Carey Mercer (Frog Eyes, Republic of Freedom Fighters, Breakwater, Blackout Beach). They released their debut album, Beast Moans, in both the CD and LP formats on Jagjaguwar on November 21, 2006.

The three are all old friends and have been collaborating in one way or another for years. Mercer and Krug’s connection goes back the furthest, as Krug has always been an on-again, off-again member of Mercer’s Frog Eyes, appearing on record with him as far back as the band’s 2002 debut, The Bloody Hand. The two are also former roommates.

When Bejar was putting a band together to flesh out his midi-based Destroyer album Your Blues, he picked Frog Eyes as his backing band, and also took them on the road as his opening act. They recorded an EP together – Notorious Lightning and Other Works – with new versions of songs from Your Blues. For the European tour promoting Your Blues, Mercer and Krug were his band, and thus the seed was planted for Swan Lake to form; i.e., why not make this a real band and collaborate not just in a live setting but also in the process of songwriting? Before they chose a band name, Mercer would often refer to the new project as "The Songwriters Project".

Beast Moans was recorded in a summer cottage town in Canada, and in Victoria, in a house that Krug and Mercer are familiar with and Bejar feels comfortable enough with. It was "self-produced". "Beast Moans" is a testament to friendship, eternal and otherwise.

(* most content from the Jagjaguwar press release.)

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Swan Lake Albums