Friday, June 26, 2009

Silversun Pickups: Why They Make Me *Swoon*


Silversun Pickups' lastest record, Swoon is flawless!

This is a band that understands their sound, and knows what it's capable of doing and isn't trying to be anything other than what it originally intended. What they are is an indie rock band. Interesting double standard: because Brain sings in that nice soft sweet tone people like to call their music pop, completely ignoring the rock instrumentation. If Brian was a female singing over the very same music, people wouldn't question the "rock-ness" of the music.

Indie rock? Yes. Specifically new wave. When listening to Swoon I think Metric on downers. The keyboard tracks are subtle and barely raise above the guitar on most tracks, creating a peacefulness within the tracks that compliment Brian's tone. Other tracks however have distortion out the world on Brian's guitar, while his voice remains quiet, perhaps he didn't need to be heard at that moment. Nikki really shines on this record, a few songs have bass lead-ins, making it a few more than you usually get on one record.

My favorite track is "Growing Old Is Getting Old", because of the bass line. It's flawless throughout. The chorus also is hynoptic. Actually the whole record is this way. It's a side effect of the tone in which Brian sings, like Emily Haines' vocals on Metric albums. There's something about the low tone and "pretty" music that makes me light, and I can sink into those records and stay for days.

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