Silversun Pickups are alive, and so is their new album. The celebrated Los Angeles band today (July 11) relayed word of their sixth studio LP, titled Physical Thrills, out August 19 via New Machine Recordings. It was produced by Butch Vig, who worked with Silversun Pickups on 2019’s Widow’s Weeds, and is led by a stomping new track called “Scared Together,” which hovering above its urgent low-end has a bit of a Carnavas-like mood to it. Listen to it below.
“This record is alive,” declares Brian Aubert. “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.”
We feel all that. Aubert also elaborates on the new single, offering up that it’s “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 will be touring North America later this year to celebrate the new record, and Boston is on the list of cities. We’ll get the date and venue later on, we’re told. In the meantime, get into “Scared Together” below.