Silversun Pickups - Swoon
By Nick Manteris · 0 Comments · Leave a Comment
The Silver Lake district of Los Angeles houses a decent collection of hipsters, some of the best coffee on the west coast (Intelligentsia and Lamill) and one of the better bands to show up in years, Silversun Pickups. Their first release, Carnavas, was one of the best albums from 2006, a year with an impressive list of bands with great debut albums. With Swoon they have managed, like every other new band from that year (except Howling Bells), to not only avoid the dreaded sophomore slump, but also to create an album that surpasses the one before it. Silversun Pickups are also the second band of the year (It’s Blitz! by Yeah Yeah Yeahs was the first) to release an album that does not contain any bad songs.
Their sound hasn’t changed much since Carnavas – the dichotomy of quiet and loud is still a defining feature – and the differences are all for the better…the toned down drone and fuzz allow for a clarity and depth that wasn’t previously accessible and the addition of strings is the icing on the cake. “It's Nice to Know You Work Alone” is the best of the bunch, but “The Royal We,” “Growing Old Is Getting Old” and “Panic Switch” are not too far behind. The rest of the album is good (but not great), and the two best tracks in the remaining group are “Sort Of” and “Catch and Release.”
- Score
- 96%
Silversun Pickups are making some great music and Swoon is easily one of the best albums for the first quarter of 2009. The question is: When the end of the year rolls around will it still be one of the top albums? Well, unless we’re really, really lucky and this ends up being one of the best years in music, then: absolutely.
