Silversun Pickups, Carnavas

I’ve wondered for years that what would’ve happened if My Bloody Valentine had followed up 1991’s Loveless with some further step in the evolution of overdriven, fuzzed-out shoegazer rock; now I think I know. With Carnavas, California’s Silversun Pickups steals Kevin Shields’ amps and throws them into the back of a beat-up Dodge Charger, driving them way out into the desert and proceeding to blanket the sunbaked landscape with a sound that rides the line between stoner-rock and MBV’s shimmery, candy-like sheen.

On tracks like opener “Melatonin,” “Rusted Wheel,” and “Checkered Floor,” the band plays swirling, overfuzzed, noisy-as-hell pop-rock that hovers on the edges of dreampop territory, orbiting somewhere near to the Jesus and Mary Chain, Ride, or other early Britpop cohorts. “Floor,” in particular, sounds like nearly a direct rip from Loveless, but to the band’s credit, it feels far more like a tribute than a ripoff. The track is like the ethereal majesty of MBV heated up and made solid, coalesced into something far meatier and (yeah, it hurts just to type this; I may have to kick my own ass later) substantial than Shields and co. ever came up with.

Silversun Pickups’ closest contemporary musical kin are probably Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and The Secret Machines — both make music that’s moody and shimmery but that you can blaze down a darkened highway to. “Waste It On,” in particular, brings to mind Secret Machines; it starts off quiet and meditative, but builds hypnotically and gets more and more elaborate until it practically explodes into orbit. There’s also “Dream at Tempo 119,” which sounds like a Death Cab For Cutie track if Ben Gibbard were to suddenly develop a major Sabbath obsession. It’s sludgy and relentless, not to mention dark as all hell. “Three Seed,” on the other hand, is gentle and quietly melancholy, with spiraling guitars that sparkle rather than hum and a melody that sounds a heck of a lot like the Get Up Kids’ “Lion and the Lamb” (the intro, at least). “Future Foe Scenarios” takes a darker turn, remaining menacing and tense throughout and climbing to a climactic heavy groove with Aubert howling Jeremy Enigk-style over the top.

Beyond those disparate influences/resemblances, though, the real touchstone for this album is Smashing Pumpkins’ underrated pre-breakout disc Gish. “Lazy Eye” is nothing but Pumpkins-esque, restrained but still driving, with Aubert sounding vocally a heck of a lot like Billy Corgan. The whole thing chugs along until the halfway point, when it switches on the turbo boosters and rips into an extended psych-rock jam, blowing the band’s erstwhile progenitors out of the water. On the flip side, “Little Lover’s So Polite” is a slinky, propulsive pop-rocker with lilting, Giant Drag-esque vocals, and it bears a resemblance to the Pumpkins mostly in its complete and total catchiness; the song sinks itself into your head like the hook Billy Corgan forgot how to write back in, oh, 1992 or so.

The album’s absolute highlight, “Well Thought Out Twinkles,” surges and stomps, grooving along at 100 mph while radiating a warm, beatific glow. Singer/guitarist Brian Aubert’s high-pitched, almost girlish vocals (seriously, before I read the band’s bio, I would’ve sworn to you that bassist Nikki Monninger was the one singing, not Aubert) lilt and sway between the chunky, thick-sounding, “Third Stone From the Sun”-esque guitars with a nearly somnolent grace ’til the song’s climactic moments, when his voice becomes a desperate, defiant roar. What’s he singing about? Not a clue, and frankly, I could care less — with Carnavas, I find myself far more interested in the overall mood than in the lyrics.

Taken as a whole, Carnavas is possibly the coolest slab of neo-psych-rock I’ve heard in quite some time. It’s trippy and strange, alluring and hypnotic, but at the same time unafraid to be full-on rawk-n-roll with the amps cranked up as high as they’ll go. It’s been a long time since I saw somebody take something as delicate and fey as late-’90s shoegazer pop and inject it with this much balls and ferocity, all the while maintaining that heavy-lidded cool detachment. Let’s hear it for beating your idols at their own game.