Released by Dangerbird Records, L.A. band Silversun Pickups’ debut EP “Pikul” (pronounced pie-kull) is a devotional to a close friend who has passed away.
Silversun Pickups are part of The Ship family (Collective). The Ship Collective is a group of bands in Los Angeles that express affection through barbequing, recording one another at The Ship studio and setting up merch tables at each others’ shows. That’s love.
The Ship Collective includes bands such as Earlimart, Pine Marten, Great Northern and Panty Lions. Elliott Smith was a close family friend, and The Breeders are distant cousins. Granddaddy too. The Ship is so named because of The Ship architect and Earlimart main man Aaron Espinoza’s love of the nautical. If one grew up, such as Espinoza (and most of Earlimart) did, in land-locked Central Valley California (or as they lovingly call it Central Valet) - one would probably grow up dreaming of the open sea, too. But I digress.
Silversun Pickups’ leading man, Brian Aubert, never thought of himself as a singer. But fate intervened one day en route to London ten years ago. The accidental singer met his future Silversun Pickups leading lady Nikki Monninger and Earlimart’s Ariana Murray on said flight. Murray later introduced Aubert to the man who would become his keyboardist, Joe Lester. Silversun Pickups’ drummer Christopher Guanloa? He was also a friend of a friend of The Ship, of course.
Having unconditional support from a community of like-minded bands that loves and inspires musically is super. But if a band can’t get it together, all the love in the world can’t make it rock. Fortunately, Silversun Pickups have an innate sense of melody and their own set of issues to work out…onstage…in front of their peers.
On Silversun Pickups’ MySpace profile in their “Sounds Like” category (it could easily read a young Smashing Pumpkins, Campfire Girls) Silversun Pickups response is typically haiku-ish and adorable: “We get loud... we get quiet... we get ugly... we get pretty... that's what we "sounds like".’
I love this EP – all the loud, quiet, pretty rock songs - “Kissing Families”, “Comeback Kid”, “Booksmart Devil”, “The Fuzz” and “…All The Go In Betweens”. Rod Cervera, who has worked with such dignitaries as Weezer, produced “Creation Lake”, “Comeback Kid”, “Kissing Families” and reverberating tale of deception “Booksmart Devil”. Nikki Monninger sings Silversun Pickups’ heartfelt cover of (their friends) The Movies’ “Creation Lake” from The Movies’ EP “In One Era Out The Other”. Pine Marten’s front man Mark Wooten had his experimental rock hands all over “The Fuzz”, recorded by Pine Martin and Earlimart alumni Brian Thornell, making it ever so psychedelic. Earlimart’s Espinoza recorded “All The Go In Betweens”.
Silversun Pickups full-length album sails into port next year. |