Billy Corgan: The Future Embrace

BILLY CORGAN The Future Embrace (Warner Brothers)

The first solo album from Billy Corgan finds the mastermind behind the late, great Smashing Pumpkins doing his usual tightrope walk between histrionic highs and lows: One song exclaims, "We can change the world," while another admits, "I cannot face tomorrow." Sonically, Corgan shoots for big-canvas emotions with a mascara-smeared nostalgic twist, as throbbing New Order bass lines and My Bloody Valentine guitar wonderwalls vie for space amidst the synth wails of a lost goth adolescence. Despite a paucity of hooks, Corgan's dogged pursuit of infinite sadness still beguiles.

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