The Life and Times of a Navy Husband

Ever since I bought Silversun Pickups’ latest album, Swoon back in May, I have not been able to stop listening to it, along with their previous album, Carnavas. Swoon rekindled my interest in the latter, which I’d downloaded on a whim from iTunes. Together, the two albums have dominated my listening for two months.

But I’ve been a little unsettled by the reviews the band has received. They’re the sort of “this band is competent and easy on the ears…but…” reviews that music critics love to write about popular bands.

Every review compares them to the Smashing Pumpkins in a dismissive way I find really annoying. The Pumpkins are an obvious influence, but all bands have influences. All bands—all musicians—build on the music has come before.

I find both albums really easy to listen to. Over and over. There’s depth and dynamism here. There are layers. And maybe it’s because they’re bringing back a sound I’ve missed in alt rock (namely, a grungy, buzzy, guitar-driven sound), but I can’t stop loving this music. It has none of the too-precious, ironic and inaccessible pretentiousness of the favorites over at Pitchfork.

So maybe I have mediocre taste in music, or maybe I’m just drawn to stuff that strikes a chord (sorry) in my fond memories of growing up grunge.

Or maybe this is just fucking good music, and maybe the critics need to get over themselves.