In “There’s No Secrets this Year,” the first song on Swoon, the Silversun Pickups come out swinging for the fences. If the band has been bothered by frequent comparisons to the Smashing Pumpkins, they don’t show any signs of it here. It’s an auspicious track that makes the same kind of promises that “Cherub Rock” made as the opening track of Siamese Dream fifteen years ago.
The comparisons are apt. The band enthusiastically acknowledges the Pumpkins as one of their primary influences, and even the appearance, gender, and ethnicity (a lanky vocalist, a female bassist, an Asian-American male) of their lineup is similar. “There’s No Secrets this Year” showcases a number of the postive ways the Pumpkins have influenced the Pickups, as mulitple guitar overdubs and rattling drum rolls are assembled together into an ambitious, portentous opener.
