The omens have been promising that Smashing Pumpkins were ripe, just fit to burst with new material, and now the harvest has borne fruit with the release of Cyr and The Colour Of Love.
Back in May, guitarist Jeff Schroeder sat down with Yamaha's Senior Guitar Designer and Luthier Pat Campolattano for a long and fun conversation about electric guitars, music, life and so on, when he revealed that Pumpkins frontman and creative driving force Billy Corgan was working on new material.
And there was a lot of new material: 20 tracks written for the double album expected for a 2020 release, and enough music for another album after that.
Today we can hear the first two tracks. Cyr is described by Billy Corgan as "dystopic folly, 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."
The video [below] was directed by Linda Strawberry.
The Colour Of Love, meanwhile, is a propulsive work of synth-pop that belies the fact that today's Smashing Pumpkins is a three-guitar band, with guitarist James Iha and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin joining Corgan and Schroeder.
There are no other titles, release dates or any of that jazz. Just two tracks, light on guitar, but with much more to come. The guitars will come. All in good time.
