Artist: Silversun Pickups
Album: Swoon
Wikipedia Genre(s): Indie rock, Dream pop, Shoegaze
Matt’s Fav Tracks: Panic Switch, Growing Old is Getting Old, Sort Of
# times listened: Moderate (10 – 25 times)
Matt’s Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Album: Amazon
MP3’s: Amazon non-DRM

I was introduced to Silversun Pickups a few years ago listening to XM radio, of all places and really dug their album “Carnavas“.  With the 2 obvious hits on that album, it was a little more inconsistent than I would have hoped, and I ended up putting the 2 tracks on playlists rather than listen to the entire album.

Enter Swoon.

I’m going out on a limb saying that Swoon will be one of the best alternative albums of 2009.  You listen to it and you instantly know it’s Silversun Pickups, but it still has a great newness to it.  The songs are more solid, yet explore the familiar, dreamy territory that is all their own (with a sound that Smashing Pumpkins wish they could have morphed into).

I was afraid that after the success of Carnavas that SP would mellow out, but am quite glad they didn’t go that route.  While some quieter moments exist on the album, other parts sound good REALLY LOUD.  They rock out with the best of them, and even with ‘indie’ as one of their genre labels, they don’t wuss out like too many other indie bands do on their sophomore album.

Lead singer singer Brian Aubert still has that off-beat, androgynous voice that works well with their sound.  Many of the melodies and guitar solos are quite simple, but unbelievably catchy (like the main riff and baseline in “Panic Switch”).  They’ll be running through your head all day after just a few listens.  SP is really good at the distortion-noise stuff too, if you are into that.

Check out the video for “Panic Switch”:

If you are bored with much of the music out today (who isn’t) grab this album (it comes out April 14th, 2009) for a fresh look at a genre nearing it’s 20th birthday.  It’s close to 5 stars for me, but giving it 4.5 out of 5 stars until it grows on me a little more.