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Silversun Pickups - ‘Swoon’

‘Swoon’ is not as immediately loveable as ‘Carnavas’. Hits such as ‘Lazy Eye’ and ‘Well Thought Out Twinkles’ are replaced with subtler structures, but this makes for a fascinating listen...

Rating: 8

While ‘Carnavas’ was one of 07’s standout albums, and a truly exciting debut, there was still something missing; something that made you hold your affection back. It was a concern about where Silversun Pickups would go from there - their sound was so moulded around fuzzy Pumpkins and Sonic Youth riffs, such a perfect modern reinterpretation of them, that it was difficult to see where they would progress to. ‘Swoon’ is therefore hotly anticipated. It turns out that Silversun Pickups haven’t really changed at all - sure, the edges are blurrier, and the occasional song rambles into woozier My Bloody Valentine territory (see ‘Growing Old Is Getting Old’ and the coda-length title track), but overall the same rich distortion powers from the speakers, along with the same strong Brian Aubert vocal melodies. ‘Swoon’ is not as immediately loveable as ‘Carnavas’. Hits such as ‘Lazy Eye’ and ‘Well Thought Out Twinkles’ are replaced with subtler structures, but this makes for a fascinating listen, an album of textures to work through. Lead-off single ‘Panic Switch’ and ‘Substitution’ are as immediate as this collection gets, but even they are restless beasts of songs, sprawling messily out of their confines. Never mind how they’ll change, then: let’s enjoy the here and now.

Mike Haydock