Silversun Pickups revved for return to recording studio
Two years on the road ignites creative ‘wanderlust’ for L.A. alternative rockers
Maybe it’s due to spending two whirlwind, globe-trotting years on the road.
But Silversun Pickups’ lead singer Brian Aubert admits he doesn’t know when or where three of the six tracks from the band’s latest EP, Better Nature (Revisited), were recorded. In fact, while the record dropped two weeks ago, Aubert has yet to hear half of it. That would be the acoustic half, which features stripped-down live versions of the Los Angeles band’s anthemic indie-rock performed by Aubert and bassist Nikki Monninger.
“I haven’t heard that part,” says Aubert with a laugh, in an interview with Postmedia. “I definitely know I did it.”
It’s not that he isn’t enthused about the new product. He actually quite likes the intimate acoustic performances, saying they are a nice break from what he calls the “moving circus” of a full-band tour. But there’s a reason he feels a little removed from it.
The heart of the new release is the three remixes of songs from the band’s 2015 album Better Nature. Nightlight was retooled by American producer and songwriter MNDR; Circadian Rhythm (Last Dance) was redone by Detroit indie-popsters JR JR; while Rochester’s Joywave put its stamp on Latchkey Kids. Live acoustic versions of the same songs were tacked onto the end to help fill out the EP.
Aubert said he and his bandmates were big fans of the remixes but also kept their distance, taking a hands-off approach.
“It becomes collaborative just by the fact that we are letting go completely,” Aubert says. “Joywave, who we’re really good friends with, was like: ‘Do you have any suggestions?' We were like: ‘Nope. Our song is the way we did it and I can’t wait to see what happens when you take our little bips and bops and turn it into something else.’ We’re all fascinated by it. These are particularly creative ones.”
Perhaps it’s a sign of maturity that Silversun Pickups have become so adept at compartmentalizing. For the past two years, the band’s focus has not been on writing or recording new material but on the extensive tour of its fourth record, the final phase of which swings into Calgary on Saturday for a sold-out show at the Palace Theatre. The album has nicely run its course and the band will soon be thinking about a return to the studio, Aubert says.
“The songs do feel now like they’ve melted into all of our previous work,” Aubert says. “Now they’re just a part of that. Our eyes are wandering a little. After a while, you get wanderlust. Your head has started to move in different directions. So over the years, you need new things to tickle you. That doesn’t make (Better Nature) less interesting for us to play. In fact, we’re probably better at it now. They’re more muscle memory than thought.”
The shorthand critical assessment of Better Nature seemed to be that it represented a logical evolution for the 17-year-old L.A. band, with the four-piece sounding less indebted to its early influences — Smashing Pumpkins and My Bloody Valentine were among those routinely name-checked in early reviews — and finding a more singular strain of muscular, hookladen indie-pop.
The band is certainly not known for rushing into recordings. Silversun Pickups sprang from the same fertile Silver Lake area in L.A. that begat Rilo Kiley, Beck and Elliott Smith over the years. But while the band formed in 2000, it didn’t release its debut EP, Pikul, until five years later.
Aubert admits it isn’t clear what sonic path Silversun Pickups will take when it comes to a new record. He doesn’t pen tunes while on tour and has spent the past two years on the road. Since the band generally likes to have “15 rough versions of things” before entering a studio, they have a bit of work to do before a new album can take shape.
“We always jump off of whatever we did last,” Aubert says. “We like to stay as far away from it as we can. Touring for two years is a good way to shake it off. Every day is sort of a different thought (about a new album). I definitely have a feeling, and I could be completely wrong, this next one is going to be really, really loud. I think it’s kind of fitting for the universe we live in right now.”
Silversun Pickups play The Palace on Saturday.