Swoon (Silversun Pickups)
I’m pretty new to the sound that Silversun Pickups brings to the table. I bought Carnavas and listened to them for a while. When I heard Swoon came out, I decided to go buy it because I liked Carnavas and expected it to be good. As you listen to Swoon, you can tell it’s a similar sound but it’s still original.
Here’s the album art:
The first thing that came to mind was modern art. If you’ve ever been to the Museum of Modern Art in New York or seen any modern art pieces you can see where It’s coming from. The choice for the album art is accurate. Silversun Pickups is a very modern sound, but it’s completely different than what is out there. Modern art tries to paint the soul, and Swoon is like a modern artist’s attempt at playing the soul. They’re showing their love for music and it really shows. The modern art album cover is perfect for their sound.
One song that really stood out, which is probably why it’s their single, was Panic Switch. It’s one of their faster paced songs on the album and it starts off with this really cool distorted guitar sound and then goes right into a short guitar riff. The bass line in the song is catchy and along with the drums makes a great play during the verses. The verses focus on his singing. The bass is low, the guitar isn’t playing and the drums in the back are the same beat the whole time. You get a warning when they’re going into the chorus because you hear the guitar kick in and you know the chorus is coming. It’s a nice transition, but the chorus itself seems too muddled. Everything together pulls away from the lead singer’s voice and he has a good voice. They also lead you back into the verse so it’s a good flow from chorus to verse and verse to chorus. The bridge is really interesting. Unlike the chorus, the voice of the singer out does the guitar, drums and bass and surpasses them, but it’s only for a few seconds before they go back into the chorus where the voice is overthrown by bass and guitar. Throughout the song, you don’t really hear anything out of place. The whole song is repeated bass riffs, drums and guitar. It’s simple, but simple works.
Swoon is definitely what you would expect from Silversun Pickups. It’s an original sound, the lead singer’s voice is amazing and he puts so much into his songs, which is why it’s a bit of a let down that his voice is overpowered in some of the songs. If you like Nirvana or The Smashing Pumpkins, you just might like Silversun Pickups and Swoon.
