Silversun Pickups
[#] Better Nature (2015)
Overbaked.
Reviewed May 26, 2025
Up until recently, the Pickups have had a two-album rule: every producer gets two albums. This is why Dave Cooley's messy, organic wall of fuzz colors Carnavas and Swoon, it's why Butch Vig pushes the band to hit hard and cinematic on Widow's Weeds and Physical Thrills, and it's why Neck of the Woods has its sterile cousin, Better Nature. Talk about disappointment: as a new Silversun convert as a teen in 2015, I was fully anticipating Better Nature, and while I certainly got my listens out of it, I never fell in love with it. Worse yet: follow-up Widow's Weeds trounces it. What gives?
Again, it's all in the production. Jacknife Lee is known for big and clean, and while that works for a creepy, inhuman record like Neck of the Woods, Better Nature aims for warm and grand, and you just cannot have texture without dirt. As a result, while plenty of interesting instrumentation and huge hooks (including all four Pickups getting a vocal spot on fourth wind single "Nightlight") abound, the whole thing feels vacuum sealed, with an especially aimlessly large ending suite in the last two songs to boot. It's not that Better Nature is bad—"Cradle" sizzles in the Mojave sun, Nikki's lead on "Circadian Rhythm" is fetchingly midnight as always, and "Tapedeck" is just angularly awesome—but that there was a clear mismatch in sonic aims and producer ethos here, and that's a real shame.
| Essential: | "Cradle (Better Nature)", "Circadian Rhythm (Last Dance)", "Tapedeck" |
|---|---|
| Quintessential: | "Friendly Fires" |
| Non-Essential: | "Ragamuffin" |
| Rating: |  |