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Silversun Pickups - Pikul
Album Details
- Artist: Silversun Pickups
- Album: Pikul
- Label: Dangerbird
- Year of Release: 2005
- ME Rating:
- Reviewed by: Michael Schmitt on 2007-02-14
- Viewed: 780 times
Within "Comeback Kid," Silversun Pickups create a suspicious instrumental cloud of pint up paranoia and fear. Once again, Silversun builds up towering climaxes and tears them down with instrumental fall-offs that ricochet seamlessly into another brilliant guitar solo worth drooling over. "Booksmart Devil" is a low-key, smoke-filled-room style groove that moves slowly yet gracefully along. Supported by Nikki Monninger’s bluesy bassline, Aubert throws out some jazz-themed guitar solos in a jam that’s still catchy as hell. "The Fuzz" follows suit, building slowly upon a groovy line that finally culminates into a gale of ‘90s alternative stylings.
Silversun Pickups deliver a delicious blend of shoegaze and alternative ‘90s rock, yet with their own classical touch. This isn’t just a memory of an era of music gone by, this is a talented group taking these influences and wrapping it into their own idea of what music should be: deep, intricate, emotionally stimulating, and complex. No cheap shots are taken, and every song is as well-written and well-executed as the last. In their first single, Silversun Pickups blow away most veteran bands’ full-lengths. The quality and care put into every song, in combination with the explosive quality of their later full-length Carnavas, reveal a band ready to take the world by storm.
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Review:
on 2007-11-19 dadair Said:
Right from the outset of Pikul, Los Angeles' Silversun Pickups show that they possess an ability to create mystery. 'Kissing Families', uses fat strings to beef up the accompaniment and draws out their festering ambivalence. They have a certain distance from the listener much like The Dears that makes them intriguing and mysterious. A sultry vocal tandem featuring Brian Augur and Nikki Manninger (bass), dissects the heart of family love. The earthy and impassioned stance of the male vocal element is cunningly deployed to contrast with the subtle strokes of Manninger. Then her piercing and punctuating bass-lines give 'Come Back Kid' some balls, emboldening the ambience.
An eerie noire element seeps out through 'The Fuzz', as Augur's vocals take on a slow troubling gait and momentum builds perfectly like the unravelling of a film plot. This time the conclusion is a fat, earthy bass kick provided by the talented Manninger. Who turns in a tingling vocal performance in 'Creation Lake', as this rumbling ode is all the more effective for its simplicity. That is, given the depth and off-kilter range on the rest of this EP which was originally released in 2004.
'All The Go Betweens' displays a mood bending twist and Augur provides the sparse, but effective vocals that rise out of a sullen pit, showering astrological mystery down with impunity. Nick Manninger's bass takes over as the epic song grows and you feel like you're being crushed by a musical meteorite. It is of little wonder that America has wanted to keep these a secret, just like they did with The Sonic Youth for a long as they could.
Rating: 7/10
