You've got to hand it to Michael Gira; he's one of the precious few people on this earth who can make pretension seem like a blessing. It took him nearly two years to break up his near- legendary art- noise/ goth outfit Swans, releasing three double CDs of recompiled older tracks and live recordings (the last of which was the stunning Swans Are Dead). Now, barely five months after Swans' death rattle, Gira returns with the Body Lovers, a "soundtrack- without- a- film" project whose Number One of Three is (of course) the first in a trilogy of instrumental albums. Gira uses phrases like "metastasizing sonic flower garden" and "psycho- ambient" to describe Number One of Three, but such rhetoric is at least partially justified by the music.

While the Body Lovers is basically a beefed- up version of the Swans lineup, they head off in a much more experimental, ambient direction. There are no titles for the ten tracks on Number One of Three; it was meant to be listened to as an entire piece. Throughout the album's 73 minutes, extended electronic moans blend in with shuddering bass/ drum convulsions and thunderous piano banging; an accordion makes two appearances, once to accompany mournful sobbing, once as an evil, grating presence joined by spooky chimes and alien chattering; lonely acoustic guitar figures build into a trademark Swans dissonant drone; and a suite of gentle melodic guitar tones provide a soothing coda.

Number One of Three retains most of Swans' menace and emotional intensity, but let's face it, a single 73- minute ambient- instrumental piece is going to be a difficult listen no matter who's performing it. The Body Lovers do their best to make it interesting, but it's hard to imagine anyone but longtime Swans fans appreciating it.

-Nick Mirov