#14 – Silversun Pickups: Swoon

The sophomore slump: something everyone considers when discussing the second album from a band who debuted pretty successfully. It can make or break a band, or it can propel them into another tier of contemporary musicians. Silversun Pickups returned this year with something to prove, and their sophomore effort Swoon proves that they’re something to be reckoned with.
Swoon comprises itself with a fair share of thick distortion throughout, similar to their debut album. “Nice To Know You Work Alone” begins with a steady bass line and lead guitar and vocals of Brian Aubert raspingly proclaims “Sit back and breathe” as the listener is suddenly surrounded in orchestral strings. The album does a great job in combining hard-hitting tracks with those that float along, such as “Draining” and “Catch and Release”. Many times, using an orchestra to create a bigger sound can destroy the parts of a band that made them great to start out, but this isn’t the case throughout Swoon, where the band takes the best of what they have to offer with the textures of a symphony.
There’s no doubt however that the highlight of the album comes halfway through the album with “Panic Switch”, the band’s single which is something bigger and better than anything they’ve done. The album’s second half doesn’t let us down either. The back to back combination of tracks of “Sort Of” builds up and creates a whirlwind of sound right into “Substition”.
Silversun Pickups may have been the most popular through their original hit single debut of “Lazy Eye” on Carnavas, but we can take this release as a more consistent offering throughout, making it apart of our Top 20.

Here’s our countdown towards WPGU’s Album of the Year:
20. Jay-Z: The Blueprint 3
19. Manchester Orchestra: Mean Everything To Nothing
18. Wolfmother: Cosmic Egg
17. The Flaming Lips: Embryonic
16. Miike Snow: Miike Snow
15. Discovery: LP
14. Silversun Pickups: Swoon
#13 coming Wednesday…stay tuned!

Leave a Reply