Silversun Pickups Carnavas CD

Silversun Pickups: Brian Aubert, Nikki Monninger, Christopher Guanlao, Joe Lester.
Audio Mixer: Tony Hoffer.
Recording information: Beer Wine Fish, Echo Park, CA; Grand Master, Hollywood, CA; Sandbox, Hollywood, CA; Sound Factory, Hollywood, CA; Sunset Sound, Hollywood, CA.
The Los Angeles band's debut full length blends pop smarts, propulsive, grungy rhythms, and the sensitive vocals of its singer Brian Aubert. Combining elements of Smashing Pumpkins and fey Britpop with a wide-eyed innocence, songs like "Little Lover's So Polite" and "Well Thought Out Twinkles" exude an infectious, joyous energy that propels their hooks and choruses into the subconscious.
Carnavas, the debut full-length from L.A.'s Silversun Pickups, is the sort of record that brings something new to discover with each listen. Thus, listen one is as enjoyable as listen five or ten, but probably for entirely different reasons, since unique bits continuously appear from the band's dream haze of accessibly textured indie rock. From the grainy opening of "Melatonin" that blends into strikingly harmonized male/female vocals, the quartet immediately showcases their innate sense of melody amid textured atmospherics and layers of distortion and fuzz, which all come across as both bittersweet and enchanting. Silversun Pickups take the shimmering dream pop of My Bloody Valentine and filter it through '90s grunge instincts like that of the Smashing Pumpkins -- and it all combines to produce an album that, well, is really freaking good. Vocals are both haunting and sweet, as lead singer Brian Aubert somehow manages to sound like a cross between the Goo Goo Dolls' Robby Takac and the Get Up Kids' Matt Pryor -- in a good way. And for every moment of ominous intensity, the band further manipulates their ethereal antics into moments of pure shimmering redemption. "Future Foe Scenarios" is urgent in a completely controlled way that makes the vocals come off even fiercer over the song's driving distortion, while exhilarating and spacious cuts like "Lazy Eye" and "Common Reactor" materialize out of clouds of hazy guitars and pensive keyboard with dynamic force that never loses its direction. Though an extremely rewarding listen, proceed with caution: once put into a stereo, Carnavas may become stuck inside for quite a while. ~ Corey AparRolling Stone (p.94) - "[The band] show all that's possible when the California sun shines on indie-rock shoegazers....The Pickups' grandiose rock owes a great deal to its Chicago forebears..."
Spin (p.85) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "By turns darkly fuzzy and brightly melodic, CARNAVAS is an auspicious record that manages to evoke a collaboration between Smashing Pumpkins and My Bloody Valentine."
Alternative Press (p.228) - "Always anchored with a friendly hook and sometimes even tender harmonies, CARNAVAS' dark/light tunes explode into a controlled chaos of distortion and white noise."
Magnet (p.108) - "Aubert's vocals are paisley-print detachment one moment and howling catharsis the next, while his insistent pop strumming devolves into waves of guitar and keyboard noise."
CMJ (p.5) - "This L.A. group takes the forlorn moods, sing-a-long choruses and stretched-out codas of current West Coast indie pop and takes them on a starship space ride."