The Best Band in the World - Review of Silversun Pickups' "The Singles Collection"

Silversun Pickups

Is it really time for a greatest hits album??  It seems just like yesterday that I was reviewing Silversun Pickup's third album, "Neck of the Woods".  Do I really need to buy a greatest hits album when I own every album, every EP that this band has released.  Yes.  Yes, I do.  And why?

Because this band is the best band to come out in the last ten years.  No lie.  They are that good.

The pounding basslines of Nikki Monninger, the unrelenting drum beats of Chris Guanloa, all given texture by the eerie keyboards of Joe Lester, all cemented together by the flawless guitar-work of Brian Aubert, who sometimes sings softly in a strangely calming and lilting voice, and then sometimes reverts to screaming with rage.  The darlings of the shoegaze set, this music switches from ethereal and dreamlike in one instant to explosive and raw the next.  These are musician's musicians.  I have spent countless hours on YouTube, watching their live performances, amazed at how technically precise they are, whether in an arena before throngs of fans, or small intimate acoustic sets.  These are musicians who cherish their craft, and they are oh, so good at what they do.

"The Singles Collection" starts aptly with "Kissing Families", one of my favorite songs off of their first EP.  Driven by the rhythm guitar, this song has a haunting cello solo contrasted with the final verse being screamed in a way that would make Pixies' Black Francis proud.  This song was my ringback tone for a long time, at least a year.  The collection then switches to their hits from the first album - the ubiquitous "Lazy Eye", which was my first exposure to this group from California, and the catchy "Well Thought Out Twinkles".

With their second album, they started to find their ground, and the songs represented have the otherwordly, layered sound that they are known from - starting with the angry, plaintive "Panic Switch" to the jubilant "Substitution" to "The Royal We", which I think is one of the greatest pieces ever written.

The collection then bridges to the third album, which contains two of my favorite songs by this group.  "The Pit" with its groovy EDM beat.  The way Aubert combines his spooky guitar strumming in conjunction with Lester's keyboards is delicious.  The song ends on an emotional high with Aubert's expansive falsetto crashing above the other instruments.  "Dots and Dashes (Enough Already)" is probably, hands down, my favorite song by Silversun Pickups.  The lyrics are stark and relevant to my life.  I love how the bass drives us mercilessly though the verses, and how the chorus is pounding.  Then the song dissolves into a wash of shoegaze noise that would make the Cocteau Twins proud.

The only new song on this collection is "Cannibal".  The band continues with their heavy usage of electronica, like they did on their last album.  The beat hits us with one crash after another in accompaniment to distorted guitars, all falling into place and rising in crescendo to a fever pitch, creating a master pop song.

For those who have not been exposed to Silversun Pickups' music, this collection is a good place to start.  My only disappointment is that they included none of the songs from the "Seasick" EP, which in my opinion is some of their strongest work.  Still, this is a good place to start.