Consuming the Tangible

It’s not that The Smashing Pumpkins ever went away; it’s that no one really cared whether they were here or not. Billy Morgan was certainly here, churning out album after after that, despite lofty ambitions (last year’s triple disc Atum) and big name producers (Rick Rubin “producing” 2018’s unwieldingly titled Shiny and Oh So Bright Vol 1/LP: No Past. No Future. No Sun) nothing clicked. For me nothing’s really clicked since Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. Still, I kept checking the albums out as Corgan rotated through various members. After almost 30 years I wasn’t optimistic when Aghori Mhori Mei showed up, but that’s why perseverance and patience pays off. This is easily the Pumpkins’ best record since Mellon Collie, a lean and mean rock album that could have been written in the heyday of the alternative rock revolution. I love it and make no apologies for it.

For me it took one listen of opening track “Edin” to have it all come back. Corgan’s primary partner, Jimmy Chamberlain had been back in the band since 2015, and James Iha returned in 2018, in time to record three albums prior to Aghori Mhori Mei. Maybe it took those three albums to gel back into the band’s prime, because nothing on those records give the rush of the massive anthemic guitars that announce “Edin”. At almost seven minutes it’s the clanging bell that rings the band’s return in full force, and Corgan’s fuzzed out guitar tone is up front recalling the best tracks from Siamese Dream rolled into one epic song. “Pentagrams” gets back to that cozy, charming alt rock defined by swirling psychedelic open chords, churning bass, and subtle keyboard shadin while first single “Sighommi” has a groove and swing that recalls the more accessible alt-rock anthems from back in the day like “Today” and “Here Is No Why”.

Some of the synth-heavy, goth stylings Corgan’s been pursuing since…well, forever are still present, but the production levels everything out so they feel much more cohesive with the more rocking tracks. “Pentecost” has piano and lush orchestral pads underneath its simple song structure, and it reminds me that, as much as the public (and possibly Corgan himself) paint Corgan as the grand architect of the Smashing Pumpkins, without the incredible drumming of Chamberlain he’s a shadow of a promise. Chamberlain is a monster throughout Aghori Mhori Mei, and his ability to lock with Corgan and Iha on the opening salvo of “War Dreams Of Itself” is masterful, as is practically every fill and beats he provides to the album.

It’s harder to nail down Iha’s contributions. I’ve always taken him for pushing the more delicate tracks, like his contributions on Mellon Collier. He has no writing contributions here, no vocals, background or otherwise. But color me stupid; I feel like just his presence and chemistry with Corgan and Chamberlain help push Aghori Mhori Mei to the liminal space Corgan had been pushing for: getting back into the mindset of those classic album without explicitly replicating the past. Which isn’t to say the album is that perfect distillation: “Who Goes There” has an odd poppy feel that doesn’t quite sit with me, and “Goeth The Fall” maybe hearkens a little too much back to “1979”.

But those are very small prices to pay for such a great streamlined rock record that ticks (almost) all the boxes that made me fall in love with the Smashing Pumpkins when I was a freshman in college and everyone and their brother was talking about Gish and this new band with a weird nasally singer that didn’t sound like anyone else.