"Swoon"

For this post I'm going to focus on an album that I've been thoroughly impressed with lately, Silversun Pickups' "Swoon".

My friend Cameron originally showed this band to me and since I trust his musical opinion greatly I checked them out and immediately I developed an infatuation.

Their music is distinctly reminiscent of the 90s alt-rock musings put forth by Smashing Pumpkins; the guitars and even the vocals are definitely channeling that band in many ways. Hell, they also have a talented female bassist. It could be more than easy to write these gents (and lady) off as a mere Pumpkins rip-off.

Nevertheless, Silversun Pickups pay much more attention to the subtlety of highs and lows in music than Smashing Pumpkins ever did. The hard and fast guitar runs of the intro track, "There's No Secrets This Year" flow effortlessly into numbers such as the glacial "Growing Old Is Getting Old" and the slow burner "Substitution".

It's post-grunge alt-rock for those who were either too young to enjoy the prime of the genre in the mid 90s or too oblivious to care.