Los Angeles, CA · alt-rock · shoegaze

Silversun Pickups

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Fuzz-forward LA alt-rock with Brian Aubert's androgynous yelp cutting through the swirl — 'Lazy Eye' still the slow-burn standard.

Brian Aubert and Nikki Monninger first met in 1994 on a flight to Cambridge, where both were headed for a school exchange program. The band they later formed grew out of Los Angeles's Silver Lake club circuit, playing regularly at Silverlake Lounge and nearby Spaceland. Its name comes from Silversun, a liquor store across from the Lounge where a friend of the band would make late-night runs.

The group's early lineup lost guitarist Jack Kennedy and drummer Elvira Gonzalez, and the band settled into its long-running shape with drummer Christopher Guanlao and keyboardist Joe Lester alongside Aubert and Monninger. Their sound sits between alternative rock and shoegaze: heavily distorted guitars, layered keyboards and long crescendos, with Aubert's high, slightly frayed voice riding above the noise.

The band's debut EP, Pikul, arrived in 2005, followed by their first album, Carnavas, in 2006. 'Lazy Eye' and 'Well Thought Out Twinkles' both reached the top ten of the Billboard Modern Rock chart, and 'Lazy Eye' turned up in Rock Band 2, Guitar Hero World Tour and the racing game Forza Horizon.

Subsequent albums have leaned further into electronics and production detail while keeping the same basic dynamic of quiet verses opening into loud, saturated choruses. Swoon, Neck of the Woods, Better Nature, Widow's Weeds, Physical Thrills and Tenterhooks have followed at intervals of several years apiece.

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alt-rockshoegaze