Silversun Pickups – Tenterhooks

Throughout their 20-year run, Siversun Pickups have treaded cautiously between mainstream recognition and indie appeal. It’s a formula that rarely works for most bands, but the LA-based alt-rockers have managed to strike that balance with favourable results. And while their highest-charting single on alternative rock radio, “Night Light,” was released almost ten years ago, the quartet has maintained a steady stream of moderate success, sustaining a respectable career.

Since the release of Better Nature in 2015, the most notable pivot Silversun Pickups have made in molding their sound is bringing in prominent songwriter and record producer Butch Vig—known for his work with Garbage, Nirvana, and the Smashing Pumpkins—to produce on each of their records. And while it’s yielded occasionally great results—the title track to 2019’s Widow’s Weeds is a late-career highlight—it generally hasn’t changed their songwriting approach. And, to be fair, if sticking to a middle lane that sounds immaculate is the aim, then there is no better person to usher in those shimmering crunch tones.

Initially, Tenterhooks sounds promising when the first single, “The Wreckage,” hits like a jab early on the album, sustaining a jutting bass groove as lead singer Brian Aubert serves a practical mantra dramatically on the song’s chorus: “Well, you get what you give, nothing more.” Following the bombastic opener “New Wave,” which asks us to face the sun, it stays true to the intensity and emotion that have fueled the band for years. This is why you listen to a Silversun Pickups album. The sprinting “Wakey Wakey” also locks into a showy display of Muff-type fuzz and odd time signature drumming that quickly fizzles out in two minutes flat.

While Vig does a commendable job in providing tasteful sequencing throughout Tenterhooks, the band sticks to a frustrating middle lane as the album progresses. The more midtempo “Thorns and All” sounds designed for radio airplay, right down to its puzzling “A hawk in the room” chorus, a formula the band has tested time and time again. And then there’s the case of Aubert’s less-than-effective singing style, his soulful croon a glaring mismatch to the slower ballads “Witness Marks” and “Running out of Sounds.” Once the driving, grungy “Hot Wired” attempts to pick up the pace toward the end, you’re left wondering why the more dynamic transitions present in the first half were entirely overlooked.

Conceptually, Tenterhooks explores the extent to which society can tolerate the political unease present in our daily lives. And while they occasionally touch on some of those themes throughout the album, they’re broken down into punchy soundbites that are never fully explored. Which, in a sense, can be seen as reflective of Silversun Pickups’ discography, which does enough to catch your attention but often falls just short of leaving a lasting impression.

Tenterhooks is out now via New Machine Recordings.