Scores of critics have already hailed this San Francisco band as an up-and-coming Smashing Pumpkins. They do flirt with the same walls of fuzzy guitars that drove early Pumpkins, and with spindly pop song structures on this their full-length debut. But there’s something not yet fully formed about their guitar excursions. Coming a year after their poppier Pikul EP, Carnavas finds them flirting with neo-grunge, particularly on the heavy-handed first single, “Well Thought Out Twinkles,” and in the explosions of white noise and shoegazer textures on “Lazy Eye.” There are no cute, indie-pop gems like the EP’s “Kissing Families” and “Comeback Kid”; the bulk of the songs are longwinded spacy tunes in search of a hook. No problem with Silversun Pickups wearing their new influences on their sleeves, but Carnavas lacks the abrasive urgency that made the Pumpkins’ Gish and My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless so entrancing the first time around.
Silversun Pickups + Viva Voce + The Kingdom | Middle East upstairs, 472 Mass Ave, Cambridge | October 15 | 617.864.EAST
