Before this project was released, The Smashing Pumpkins frontman, Billy Corgan, stated his desire to create a “contemporary” album. If by contemporary he meant a fresh Smashing Pumpkins sound, then he was right. If he meant for it to be a game-changer, he was wrong.
CYR is a 72-minute-long double album; this information alone should be enough to fill the general listener with wary dread. A double album should be a constantly evolving, exciting piece of work, not unlike the band’s 1995 record Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. Yet, this new release does not deliver on excitement or anything hugely of note to keep the listener interested for 20 songs.
From the opening track ‘The Colour of Love’ we get punchy bass lines and feel-good synth sounds, all tied together with ghostly female backing vocals. All of this may sound like a recipe for a good album but do not be fooled; this is a formula the band repeats for the majority of the album. It gets tiresome.
The record reaches a near explosive energy with tracks ‘Wyttch’ and ‘Purple Blood’; which hail back to the group’s gothic guitar chugging, but these fall short when Corgan’s raspy, entirely underwhelming vocals chime in. The band seem to be writing the same tunes as before, just simply replacing the guitar with synthesisers and Jimmy Chamberlin’s drum kit with a drum machine, which is a crime in and of itself.
‘Confessions of a Dopamine Addict’ is a standout track, as the powers of the drum machine are fully utilised crafting an interesting and unorthodox beat. But again, it’s another tune that quickly falls into the synth-pop “wall of sound” idea.
It’s rather impressive that the group have managed to, relatively successfully (not really), transform their sound after three decades of being together, and Billy Corgan should be commended for this. However, the new ideas explored on this record are tormentingly overused and, in all honesty, boring.
It means this is an album that old fans won’t enjoy and new fans, well, they won’t ever exist if this regressive formula continues.
CYR is pleasant enough; the challenge is to not get bored after the first 3 songs.
2/5 stars.
