Silversun Pickups / Swoon
Artist Silversun Pickups
Album Title: Swoon
Album Cover:
Primary Genre Alternative & Punk: General Alternative
Format CD
Released 04/14/2009
Label Dangerbird Records
Catalog No DGB035
Bar Code No 8 42803 00252 8
Packaging Digipack
Tracks
1. There's No Secrets This Year (5:33)
(Silversun Pickups)
2. The Royal We (4:47)
(Silversun Pickups)
3. Growing Old is Getting Old (5:53)
(Silversun Pickups)
4. It's Nice to Know You Work Alone (4:46)
(Silversun Pickups)
5. Panic Switch (5:43)
(Silversun Pickups)
6. Draining (4:55)
(Silversun Pickups)
7. Sort of (5:27)
(Silversun Pickups)
8. Substitution (4:41)
(Silversun Pickups)
9. Catch & Release (4:39)
(Silversun Pickups)
10. Surrounded (Or Spiraling) (4:45)
(Silversun Pickups)
Date Acquired 04/13/2010
Personal Rating
Acquired from Best Buy
Purchase Price 9.99
Reviews
All Music Guide Review:

Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
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') don't attempt synthesis or reimagination, they merely seek continuance, acting 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, something that could be heard in Jimmy Chamberlin's thundering backbeat, the skyscraping guitars of Billy Corgan and James Iha, and, especially, Corgan's outcast wail, producing a sound that found beauty in ugliness and vice-versa. In stark contrast, Silversun Pickups are nothing but pretty, shimmering sweetly on the surface, a sound suited for Los Angeles. Silversun Pickups avoid unpleasantness to such a great extent on Swoon that they rarely shift tempos or dynamics. They merely wallow in washes of sound, deriving equally from guitars and whispered vocals, never pushing forward, never achieving any sense of momentum, just glimmering in the sunlight. It's pleasant enough, particularly when the breathy vocals fade away to leave behind cascades of guitars, but even at its best, it's nothing more than an approximation of Smashing Pumpkins at their peak, with all the interesting parts stripped away.
Cover 1