Silversun Pickups

When it comes to hyping obscure bands, music critics are like boys and girls crying wolf; eventually, no one really pays attention to the instruction to "catch them now before they blow up and get huge!" It's the laziest sort of endorsement—and yet it also seemed absolutely true when L.A.'s Silversun Pickups were building a local fan base in advance of their 2006 debut, Carnavas, an album that provided a hipster-approved blast of alt-rock chops and glorious guitar fuzz. And, sure enough, they did blow up. Fast forward to 2009 and the quartet is fresh off playing the main stage at Coachella and watching their new album crack the Top 10 pop chart.

Swoon charts a familiar course for a band at this stage in a career arc; the album sounds big and serious, characterized by lengthy track times, swing-for-the-fences production and flourishes like string sections. The potholes of their impressive debut—intermittent inconsistencies and uncertainties—have been paved over, although their previous heights mostly go unmatched. Swoon is more of an even-keeled listen, a safe and logical procession from what came before.

Even though there are sonically adventurous passages of Swoon that have nothing to do with alt-rock or even traditional indie-rock, the Pickups don't hide entirely from the Smashing Pumpkins comparisons. Opener "There's No Secrets This Year" offers a whiff of classic Siamese Dream opener “Cherub Rock” with its propulsive, grunged-up guitars. Frontman Brian Aubert’s decidedly curious croon—again with echoes of Billy Corgan's soft coos and unhinged screams—will always be a polarizing part of the Pickups. He can be quite affecting, and is at his best when the songs hit their inevitable crescendos and he matches the intensity of the music around him. He’s less effective when the band is exploring ambience or atmospherics, as they do on the orchestrally oriented “Catch and Release” and the opening stretches of “Growing Old Is Getting Old” and “Draining.”

The same is true of the Pickups in general: they're still best when they're charging ahead. What sets them apart from countless other bands who studied at the altar of the Pumpkins and the other guitar heroes of '90s alt-rock is that the Pickups have a stronger pop sensibility. The hooks are a little less sharp on Swoon—or perhaps just a bit muted by all the new accoutrements—but they’re still felt forcefully, especially on “It’s Nice to Know You Work Alone,” “Sort Of,” “Substitution” and lead single “Panic Switch.”

—Adam McKibbin
05.11.09

Silversun Pickups hold Smashing Pumpkins as close to their heart as, say, Mudhoney hold the Stooges -- perhaps even more, as Silversun Pickups (whose very initials are the same as the Pumpkins) act as though nothing happened between Siamese Dream in 1993 and Swoon in 2009. Try as they may, the bandmembers cannot deny the passage of time, or their geography, for Silversun Pickups are creatures of their time and place, just as their idols were. At their core, the Pumpkins were Midwestern misfits, something that was evident in their very appearance and sound. In contrast, Silversun Pickups shimmer sweetly on the surface, a sound suited for Los Angeles. Silversun Pickups avoid unpleasantness on Swoon, wallowing in washes of sound derived equally from guitars and whispered vocals and glimmering in the sunlight. It's pleasant enough, particularly when the breathy vocals fade away to leave behind cascades of guitars, but still remains an approximation of Smashing Pumpkins at their peak. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide