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Feb 01, 2009 Winter 2009 - Anticipated Albums of 2009 By Evan Rytlewski Photography by Timothy Norris

Brian Aubert is flattered that so many people mistook him for a woman after hearing his band’s breakthrough single, “Lazy Eye.”

“I can’t even tell you how much we loved it that there were guys who thought I was a girl,” the Silversun Pickups singer says. “I loved the idea of playing a show, and walking out on stage with my beard in front of some guy who was expecting to see some swanky chick instead.”

Silversun Pickups’ upcoming second album, Aubert says, should do little to clear up the gender ambiguity. “I’m going to sound even more androgynous on it,” he boasts. “All the things that people didn’t like about the last album, it’s 20 times more on this one.”

Titled Swoon and slated for an early spring release, the album promises to be darker than 2006’s Carnavas, reflecting the band’s recent trials and tribulations. After fluke radio play gave their debut unexpected legs, they capitalized on the opening and spent two years on the road promoting the CD, and although they found considerable commercial success—especially for a band without the backing of a major-label—their return to Los Angeles wasn’t the picturesque homecoming they’d hoped for.

“It’s funny because you’re so excited to be back and ready to piece your life together and for things to be nice and happy again,” Aubert says. “But when I got back, my life started to fall apart. My mother passed away, and that set the tone for all these bad times I had to face. Then we start writing the new record, and the economy started its downturn, and things all over the world began to seem so gloomy. People around you who had these amazing jobs as designers are now putting up drywall for a living, and applications at Denny’s are being filled out by people who used to be engineers.”

Aubert says as a result the new album “sounds like a nervous breakdown,” a tumultuous affair with songs both far louder and far quieter than those on Carnavas. Where that disc plowed forward with the drive of a powerhouse ’90s alt-rock record, Swoon finds time for moodier, creepier tangents. A handful of songs will introduce full string arrangements inspired by horror films such as Suspiria and early John Carpenter movies.

“We didn’t want them to be in there just to ballad-up our songs, because we’re not really a ballad band,” Aubert says of the 16-piece string section. “So we’ve got them doing all sorts of things. We wrote one song that was really aggressive, where I pulled back on the guitar so the strings could carry more of the weight. It was really different, and from the expressions on their face, it seemed like they enjoyed the challenge.”