Today, Silversun Pickups announce Physical Thrills, their Butch Vig-produced sixth album, released on August 19th via their label, New Machine Recordings.
Brian Aubert of the band shares about the album: “This record is alive. It sits somewhere in between a collection of songs and an imaginary friend. A friend that from March of 2020 to April of 2021 would not only introduce itself to me but keep me company through that time of intense isolation. A friend that would remind me that in this instance, the whole world was feeling the same way as well. A comforting, playful, sometimes frightened, often delighted friend. A friend that was finally introduced to Butch Vig, once we got vaccinated, and blew through his studio like a tornado made of cotton candy, leaving little pieces of residue everywhere. But most importantly, this friend REALLY doesn’t give a fuck. I know. That sounds brash. I just mean it’s a thing that is truly free. And now, this little living head space no longer visits me. I visit it through this album. I hope you like it. My friend wouldn’t care. Little rascal.”
‘Physical Thrills’ is available for pre-order on all formats here.
The band today also share ‘Scared Together’, the first single from ‘Physical Thrills’ along with the new music videodirected by Claire Marie Vogel. Brian Aubert shared about the album “You never know what can bring two people together. Sometimes it’s something light and comfy. Sometimes it’s a shared love of some kind of totem or idol that is dear. Other times, it’s something a little more dreadful. But whatever works I say. To each their own. This song is about becoming close and intimate with someone through hardship. Being thrown into something quite frightening brings out some shared qualities that connect them.”
Silversun Pickups’ sixth album ‘Physical Thrills’ came together as a serendipitous accident during a dark time. The LA band began 2020 by touring in support of their record released the previous year, ‘Widow’s Weeds’. But the pandemic halted those plans, with the members guitarist and singer Brian Aubert, bassist Nikki Monninger, drummer Christopher Guanlao, and keyboardist Joe Lester, finding themselves stuck at home. In that resting period, Aubert wasn’t focused on Silversun Pickups; instead, he channeled his energy into taking care of his son, while his wife worked.
But as much as his focus initially shifted from the band, he couldn’t escape the new melodies germinating in his head. “I would sneak off and start writing these songs, and I didn’t know what they’re for because I didn’t really think about Silversun on any level. I was just doing it to keep myself calm and keep myself company,” says Aubert. The songs were so different from what he’d previously written for Silversun Pickups that he initially thought he was writing a musical. There were “dream shanties,” gentler vocals, horror-inspired sounds, and other exciting new elements coming to mind.
When Aubert revealed the new material to his bandmates, they readily embraced the new direction—and so did producer Butch Vig. The band reunited with Vig, who first worked with Silversun Pickups on Widow’s Weeds, recording the album at the famed producer and Garbage member’s home.
Once Aubert made plans to visit Vig and play him what he had, the music began pouring out. He immediately began recording with Vig, later having the rest of the band join.
‘Physical Thrills’ was colored by the pandemic, but isn’t meant to be solemn; instead, Aubert explores his own comfort in the temporary, newfound isolation. There are tracks with shoegaze-infused distorted synths and guitar, like opener ‘Stillness (Way Beyond)’; bouncy, pop-tinged danceable tunes (‘Empty Nest,’ ‘Hereafter (Way After)’); pared-down ballads (‘Alone On A Hill’); and a collection of “dream shanties,” as Aubert refers to them.
With such an exploratory record, the band members felt free to traverse new ground. Guanlao, who usually shies away from fills on drums, took inspiration from The Beatles documentary Get Back, throwing some into ‘Physical Thrills’, influenced by Ringo Starr’s work on Let It Be. Whereas for Monninger, this record allowed her to showcase her vocals at the forefront more than in previous work. Lester also took a larger role in composition on this record, writing the piano part for ‘We Won’t Come Out,’ which became the backbone for the song. The making of ‘Physical Thrills’ also allowed for whimsical moments, including Aubert creating a distinct tapping noise by incorporating the sound of drumsticks hitting Vig’s Grammy in ‘Hidden Moon,’ and playfully pelting balloons at Monninger while she played ‘Hereafter (Way After)’ on bass to create less tension.
While this record features such an eclectic mix of melodies, each song is interconnected with each other, meant to be experienced as a whole body of work. “All of our records are designed for people who want to listen to them all the way through and hopefully stick around with it,” says Aubert. “After a while, maybe you’ll catch on to the little things—not just the [pattern of] the dream songs, but maybe you’ll hear that, and you’ll hear a melody from the first song in the last song. There are crossover things happening.” Monninger adds, “We’ve been together for twenty-two years; it’s really interesting that we still love doing this. We know that we’re fortunate to still be together after all these years, seeking out the silver lining. I feel like we still have many more things to say, and we’re so happy with how this album turned out.”
