Pitchfork

In an alternate world, The Future Embrace could pass for an average shoegaze record with a few OK songs. Because really that's what we got here: Tracks like "Mina Loy (M.O.H.)" and "DIA" cough up all the proven pink noise progressions, hot drums pushed back in the mix, so-called lush layers of guitar distortion, an acceptable vocal melody, frothing overdrive, etc. Even the single "Walking Shade", however hookless and octave-bass trendy as electro-fuck (think the Killers, then thank mixing boy Alan Moulder), still sounds enough like New Order at times that, hey, things are gonna be fine-- one less Out Hud song on the radio.

Unfortunately, Billy Corgan's changed a few lives in his time, which makes it difficult for some people (me, at least) to have any sense of the song's musical merits before their brains pavlov. For a time, Smashing Pumpkins were tops; in my neighborhood alone, dressing up for Halloween as the Asian Guy From Smashing Pumpkins was a politically acceptable if not publicly applauded costume choice. So was making your own ZERO shirt, and locking yourself in your locker, despite all your rage.

So there are, in fact, two ways The Future Embrace can, will, and possibly should be read. The first is, like I said, as just another shoegaze record with some/many lyrical missteps (a teaser: "On the ninth day God created SHAME!!!!!!!"). The second: Although Pumpkins fans enjoy explaining to their peers how, actually, Corgan recorded most of Siamese Dream himself, etc., The Future Embrace really is his first solo record. He's dropping the ruse of band co-operation, and, however much it's often untrue, asking us to read his songs to be at least partially autobiographically. Officially, Corgan no longer represents Smashing Pumpkins (or Zwan), just himself, and the solo run implies a certain interest in showing his true face to those who want to see it.

"All Things Change" has loveful guitars and flimsy drums and really nasally vocals. But for the Corganites this is The Artist justifying his return, explaining his motives for disbanding the Pumpkins, putting faith in pop music, and steeling himself in a way that, if we're buying into the song as a personal account, is kinda sorta affecting. The song's last line, "We can change the world," is cliche, sure, but so is "I love you" to your girlfriend, and "I can't believe I'm doing this" to yourself before the virgin line-- what matters more is Corgan's saying it.

So, forgive Corgan his infinite lyrical badness, but know that infinity's a lot to forgive. "You are love/ You are soul/ You are real to me" is bad, approaching the level of "Can I give my old heart TO YOU!!!!!!!", also a line from The Future Embrace. In fairness, I don't remember what I was thinking exactly when I first heard something like, "I torch my soul to show/ The world that I am pure," stuff like that. Anyway, while that line from "Rocket" seems intentionally poetic, The Future Embrace doesn't seem to aspire to the craft's inherently mediated affair. This is Corgan talking candidly to the mirror, a recording for himself and interested fans, but a big fuck-you to anyone who never cared in the first place. I can't reward that, but I think I get it: When we talk to ourselves about stuff, most of us don't think in necessarily poetic terms-- we just think what we feel. Granted, I've never said something like, "Every time I start reaching out to find you/ Loneliness abounds," but you get the point.

Tonally and compositionally, The Future Embrace is either samey or consistent depending on your mentality, but Corgan throws one undeniable curve with his cover of the Bee Gees' "To Love Somebody"-- thirds dropped and Robert Smith on backup vox to boot. Turns out it's not a straight cover; Corgan personalizes it in a spot. Perhaps underscoring the tension he's had in his own career-- a tension he seems to enjoy talking about-- Corgan doesn't sing, "And I'm blind, so very blind," as scripted, but instead asks himself, "Am I so blind, blind to believe?" Woof. For an answer, we might turn back to Corgan's cover of "Destination (Unknown)": "I know I'll leave when it's my time to go/ Till then I carry on with what I know." The swoons fight the groans.