Swoon

Background information

After completing their Carnavas/Pikul tour in Christmas 2007, the band took a break until February of the next year. They began recording in their own studio named The Dark. The album was produced by Dave Cooley, who had worked with the band on their first album, Carnavas. Recording was completed between July 2008 and February 2009. During the recording process the band laid down as many as 17 songs which were eventually cut down to 10 for the album. On February 17, the band posted a list of the songs expected to be on Swoon on their MySpace blog.

The album was released on April 14, 2009. The first single released was "Panic Switch". On April 6, the track "There's No Secrets This Year" was released as a single on various online music stores. The bonus track "Currency of Love" was released exclusively on iTunes with pre-orders in the U.S. and Canada, but was issued as a regular album track in other countries. The song "Ne Plus Ultra" was released as a B-Side on the single Panic Switch.

Two tracks off of the album, "Panic Switch" and "It's Nice to Know You Work Alone," have been released as downloadable content for Guitar Hero: World Tour as part of a track pack released on April 9. The song "Panic Switch" was also released along with "Sort Of" for the Rock Band series on March 2, 2010. "Panic Switch" was also included with the game Rocksmith. "There's No Secrets This Year" appears in racing game Dirt 2 and the rhythm game Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock. "It's Nice to Know You Work Alone" is also featured in the baseball game MLB 10: The Show.

Artwork

As with Carnavas, the album's packaging features the artwork of Darren Waterston, this time using his 2008 piece "St.Clair" as the basis for the cover art. The inside packing also features Waterston's pieces "Disembodiment" and "Reverberations." All paintings are from his collection entitled "The Flowering."

Reception

Like Carnavas, Swoon received generally positive reviews from critics. It accumulated a score of 64 out of 100 on Metacritic, based on 21 reviews. The album reached the seventh spot on the Billboard 200 with 43,000 copies sold in its first week, compared to "Carnavas", which peaked only at number 80 on the Billboard 200. As of May 2012, Swoon has sold 318,000 copies

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Silversun Pickups.

Chart positions

Personnel

Silversun Pickups

Brian Aubert – guitar, vocals

Nikki Monninger – bass, vocals

Chris Guanlao – drums

Joe Lester – keys

Production

Produced by Dave Cooley

Engineered by Steven Rhodes, Kristian Riley and Jason Gossman

Mixed by Tony Hoffer and Jason Gossman

Mastered by Stephen Marcussen

String arrangements by Will Canzoneri

Art

Cover art is from Darren Waterston's "St. Clair"

Photos by Steve Gullick

Layout by Sara Cumings

Tour

Setlist

Songs do eventually get change position in the setlist. For example, "Catch and Release" from the encore to the normal setlist, with "Three Seed" taking their place in the encore.

Growing Old Is Getting Old

Well Thought Out Twinkles

Panic Switch

There's No Secrets This Year

The Royal We

Little Lover's So Polite

It's Nice to Know You Work Alone (played on 30 April 2009, added after 4 June 2009)

Future Foe Scenarios

Kissing Families

Draining (played on 4 June 2009, 3 July 2009, 19 June 2010)

Sort Of (added after 20 March 2009)

Lazy Eye

Surrounded (or Spiraling) (played on 3, 12, 30 April 2009) [ENCORE]

Substitution [ENCORE]

Catch and Release (added after 4 June 2009) [ENCORE]

Booksmart Devil (played on 18 October 2009) [not in encore, but played after Catch and Release, which wasn't in the encore on 18 October 2009]

Three Seed (added after 20 June 2010) [ENCORE]

Rusted Wheel (occasionally played from April to June 2009, added on 2 July 2009, dropped after 10 December 2009, played on 15, 18 June 2010) [ENCORE]