@Drop cap:Brian Aubert, singer/guitarist of the Silversun Pickups, said the group likes a challenge.
The band tries to continuously evolve, even in a live setting, and seeks to insert new musical ideas into its existing songs.
“We’re always trying to make ourselves uncomfortable and push forward because we don’t really know how to grow,” Aubert said in a recent phone interview. “The only way we know how to do it is to keep making it difficult and keep kind of pushing in directions, so that way we don’t feel like we’ve plateaued. That way we really feel like we’re reaching for something. We almost want to keep it out of our reach every time. That’s what it’s been like.”
When it came to making the recently released second full-length CD, “Swoon,” the band pushed itself into uncharted waters by doing something new — writing all of the songs during a single block of time and committing them to CD without any road tests.
That was a very different experience than the way the group approached its first CD, the 2006 release “Carnavas,” or its 2005 EP, “Pikul.”
Formed in 2000 in Silver Lake, a suburb of Los Angeles, the band (Aubert, bassist Nikki Monninger, drummer Christopher Guanlao and keyboardist/effects guru Joe Lester) played shows for some two years before recording “Pikul.” That music had been thoroughly road tested, as had the music they recorded for “Carnavas” a short time later.
“When we had a lot of songs that we had live, we split them into different places,” Aubert said. “We put some of the songs into the EP and wrote a couple of new songs around that, and then put the other half on ‘Carnavas.’”
Making changes to familiar songs to create a cohesive sound was the hardest part, he said. “When you have songs you’ve been playing live for awhile, they’re difficult to alter.”
For “Swoon,” there was no backlog of songs from which to draw. Everything had to be written.
“We knew that we wanted to make a more emotive, more dynamic, much more moody record, still using the language that we’re still in love with,” Aubert said. “There were just places in that swirl, the sonic atmosphere we liked, there was more to go. That was sort of the beginning of thinking about ‘Swoon.’”
There was no reason to change the basic sound of Silversun Pickups. “Carnavas” had featured some impressive hook-laden songs (including “Well Thought Out Twinkles,” “Little Lover’s So Polite” and “Dream Of Tempo 119”), all built around a fuzzed-out sound from effects-laden guitars and keyboards. The album earned Silversun Pickups comparisons to such adventurous groups as My Bloody Valentine and Smashing Pumpkins.
“Swoon” is a richer work. The sonic blueprint is essentially the same, but there are more layers, textures and depth to the CD, which features several stand-out tracks, including “It’s Nice To Know You Work Alone,” “There’s No Secrets This Year” and “Panic Switch,” three brisk songs with particularly strong riffs and vocal melodies.
Meanwhile songs like “The Royal We” (a recent top five alternative rock hit that features symphonic instrumental touches) and the somewhat lo-fi and low-key ballad “Catch And Release” broaden the Silversun Pickups’ stylistic reach by bringing out softer and moodier dimensions in the music.
“Swoon” has been positively received and has helped raise the Silversun Pickups’ commercial profile, thanks to “Panic Switch.” That song topped Billboard magazine’s “Hot Modern Rock” singles chart earlier this year — a rare accomplishment for a band on an indie label like Dangerbird Records.
“It’s been so amazing how well ‘Panic Switch’ has done. It’s crazy to us,” Aubert said. “That’s our biggest song now. It’s so insane.”
The Silversun Pickups’ popularity could well continue to grow, with “The Royal We” and a busy summer of touring in the United States behind “Swoon.” The group, Aubert said, enjoys having a second CD of material to play, after having toured for some three years with only the “Pikul” and “Carnavas” songs.
“We feel really good,” he said. “(We’re) always sort of changing and tightening little bolts here and there, but it’s really fun. It’s really fun to weave in and out of the older material and the new stuff.”
