Blushing may still have been a far-off dream for married couples Christina and Noe Carmona and Michelle and Jacob Soto when Jeff Schroeder first joined Smashing Pumpkins around the time of Zeitgeist in 2007. But a decade and a half later, the Austin-based dream-pop collective had become so enamored with Schroeder’s work that he became a bucket-list collaborator by the time the quartet were composing their third album, Sugarcoat. Naturally, after Billy Corgan’s ever-metamorphosing stadium-alt project came through the Texas capital, the band decided to shoot their shot.
“While chatting after a Smashing Pumpkins concert one night, we made a joke about Jeff playing lead guitar on the next album,” the members of Blushing recall of the now-former SP guitarist. “A few years later when Sugarcoat was being recorded we decided to see if Jeff would be interested in making the suggestion a reality. He enthusiastically accepted and later sent over a guitar track that flowed perfectly with ʻSeafoam.ʼ”
The track they mention is debuting today, and the squealing riff that lines the song merges perfectly with the dreamy take on noise-pop Blushing first established on 2019’s self-titled record, and which they’ve subtly honed up through their second release for Kanine Records. You can pre-order the record via the label here, and check out the moodily lit video for the track filmed at the Link & Pin Art Gallery in Austin below. As far as I know there’s still no word on the hiring process for Smashing Pumpkins’ new Jeff Schroeder—if you applied you may wanna send another follow-up email.
