The Smashing Pumpkins have given fans a first taste of the band’s new album with a pair of singles released on Friday. The yet-untitled album, also without a release date, marks the band’s first since 2018’s Shiny and Oh So Bright, Vol. 1 / LP: No Past. No Future. No Sun.
The forthcoming new album will also be the second release since the mostly-original lineup got back together in 2018, featuring frontman Billy Corgan, James Iha, Jimmy Chamberlin, and longtime guitarist Jeff Schroeder, with bassist D’arcy Wretzky as the only missing original member.
Related: Billy Corgan Performs Topical “Hard Times” On ‘Fallon’ [Watch]
The first single, “Cyr”, is an aggressively-modern industrial pop nightmare that’s paired with a performance video which looks like it came from the cutting room floor of Twin Peaks: The Return. Yet while the instrumentation and overall aesthetic of the song may be a far cry from what fans of the older Smashing Pumpkins catalog had in mind, the song’s lyrics still feature the hallmarks of the alternative group. “Cyr” was written in response to the current state of isolation brought on by the pandemic, and feels like the pent-up rage of a voice screaming out to no one.
Corgan referred to the song as “dystopic folly,” in a statement, “one soul against the world sort of stuff, set against a backdrop of shifting loyalties and sped up time. To me it stands as both hopeful and dismissive of what is and isn’t possible with faith.”
Watch the music video for “Cyr” by Smashing Pumpkins below.
The Smashing Pumpkins – “Cyr” (Official Music Video)
[Video: Sumerian Records]
On the second single, “The Colour of Love”, the band takes on a more conventional sound that is authentic to their roots. With a driving drum beat, “The Colour of Love” is also synth-driven and once again leaves Iha far underutilized. While it features many dressings of a pop song, there are rays of the classic, alienated feelings of The Smashing Pumpkins that shine through on the track.
Listen to “The Colour of Love” by The Smashing Pumpkins.
The Smashing Pumpkins – “The Colour of Love”
[Video: Smashing Pumpkins]
Earlier this month, The Smashing Pumpkins launched five ominous clocks on their website. The first clock ran out earlier this week to coincide with the release of the singles, with the others running out in 18, 39, 60, 81, and 88 days (with a sixth clock added within the past two weeks). Visit the band’s website to decipher the clues.
[H/T Billboard]