Silversun Pickups - Neck of the Woods

Silversun Pickups - Critically acclaimed "Best New Artist" Grammy nominees gracefully walk the tightrope between bold, intelligent art-pop and prickly, psychedelic indie/ alternative rock on their third longplayer and follow up to their '09 breakout Swoon... frontman and songwriter Brian Aubert says he and his fellow Pickups marked their tenth anniversary together by discovering a certain experimental "playfulness" in the new tracks, adding, "we just wanted to let it all fly"...in-demand producer Garrett "Jacknife" Lee (R.E.M., Snow Patrol) recorded Neck at his Topanga Canyon studio //Release: Neck of the Woods (May 8, Dangerbird) // Sounds like: Aubert's boyish vocals continue to be an interesting counterpoint to the L.A. band's dark, incendiary sonic underbelly and angular melodic structures...there's a gleaming, brittle sheen just below the surface of many of these tracks, programmed beats, booming bass lines and electronic washes rubbing against the echoing guitar riffs...

Quote: “We immediately said, no matter how these songs come out, let’s try to catch up with them and not try to squeeze them down. Let’s see how and why they are the way they are.  Instead of pushing them in unnatural directions, let’s let them breathe.  Even if we find them strange, let’s try and figure them out.” - Brian Aubert // What We Like: "Lead single "Bloody Mary (Nerve Endings)" serves up the Silversun aesthetic on an even larger platter -- the reverbed distortion and compressed instrumentation of Swoon reimagined in a wide-open and spacious dreamscape..."Hear We Are (Chancer)" turns a stripped and funky drum beat into a slow-simmering meditation of ticking electronics with a killer jazz-inflected bass and drum combo...

Silversun Pickups - "Here We Are (Chancer)" (from Neck of the Woods)

Silversun Pickups - "Bloody Mary (Nerve Endings)" (from Neck of the Woods)