Silversun Pickups – Carnavas

The Sun Is Starting To Rise

To many Los Angelenos, Silversun Pickups have been around the block and back, honing their skills in numerous regional venues. After a well-received EP, the band continues their trek through experimental rock with Carnavas, an album more likely to be embraced by bearded hipster youth than by classic rock fans. With a distinctive voice not heard since Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan, Brian Aubert leads the listener through a dark and sometimes fantastical journey. “Melatonin,” arguably the most upbeat and mainstream song in the album, contains lyrics like “After six milligrams we’re talking again / so sweet and so low who would know” which highlight the layer of dejection prominent throughout Carnavas. “Well Thought Out Twinkles” immediately follows, powered by the grumbling bass guitar of Nikki Monninger. The only female in the band, Monninger pushes that most remote instrument to the foreground making it a key element of the Silversun Pickups sound.

Each member and instrument helps create the band’s forceful metal melodies. Joseph Lester trickles mood-setting notes throughout the beastly hardcore drumming of Christopher Guanlao and Aubert’s fuzzy guitar echoes. Every song seems to fade away by transforming itself from music to static. “Common Reactor” concludes Carnavas as an engine might grind to a halt, like going through musical detox from all the sonic amphetamine taken in when playing the album.

Silversun Pickups are still developing as artists; witness Monninger’s quietly nervous background vocals and Aubert’s often-simplistic lyrics. Yet with catchy head-banging anthems like “Lazy Eye” and the dangerously sexy “Rusted Wheel,” Carnavas embodies a carnival ride of treacherous fun.