Los Angeles-based rock group Silversun Pickups have announced a new album, their third, with plans to drop it on May 4th this year.

The record was produced by the Grammy Award-winning Jacknife Lee (U2, Weezer, REM, Snow Patrol), and the song Bloody Mary (Nerve Endings) will be the first single.

Lead singer/guitarist Brian Aubert says the new songs sound “like a horror movie…. [2009’s] Swoon was more about what I was feeling at that particular time, whereas with this one, I wanted to see what built me. It was learning why I am the way I am.”

Aubert also says that drummer Christopher Guanlao steals the show. “We really wanted to play with drums as textures. We played around with drums coming in here and there and building atmosphere, which guitars usually do.”

“[But] I’m not going to let the others have all the fun. It’s still a rock record. We wanted to have moments of explosions like we’ve done in the past, but we didn’t want them to carry the whole song. There’s something a little bit psychotic sounding that we really like and we didn’t want to fill it entirely with big guitars.”

Despite a somewhat lukewarm response here in Australia, sophomore album Swoon peaked at #14 on the national ARIA album charts, Silversun Pickups have had huge success overseas, selling over one million records worldwide.

Their first EP, Pikul, was released in 2005 and whilst it hinted at great things to come, no one was quite prepared for the explosion of the band’s debut LP, Carnavas. Released in 2006, Carnavas was the #1 Alternative and Independent record for four consecutive weeks in the USA.

In 2009, Swoon debuted at #7 on the Billboard Top 200 and was in the chart for over 22 weeks on the strength of the #1 Modern Rock smash, Panic Switch.

You can listen to Bloody Mary (Nerve Endings) below.

Get unlimited access to the coverage that shapes our culture.
to Rolling Stone magazine
to Rolling Stone magazine