ATUM: A ROCK OPERA IN THREE ACTSTHE SMASHING PUMPKINSTHE SMASHING PUMPKINS:Jimmy Chamberlin: Drums and PercussionWilliam Patrick Corgan: Vocals, Guitars, Bass Guitars, KeyboardsJames Iha: GuitarsJeff Schroeder: Guitars, KeyboardswithKatie Cole and Sierra Swan: Backing VocalsAll music and lyrics by William Patrick Corgan
Produced by William Patrick Corgan
Released May 5, 2023
Is it all interconnected? Is it all essentially just one epic song, which if you strung from end to end, it would exist as essentially one musical universe during which each release is a different corner of said universe?
Over the years upon this site, I have made comparisons and allusions between The Smashing Pumpkins' co-founder/singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist/producer/band leader Billy Corgan with the likes of key iconic musical figures. As with Pete Townshend, I see similarities due to his skills as a songwriting conceptualist. To both Miles Davis and Prince, I see similarities due to Corgan's skills as a bandleader and a songwriting prolificness and dexterity, which has produced its own singular musical language. To Robert Fripp of King Crimson, I see similarities as Corgan remains the central figure, the sun into which everything surrounding its orbit. He sometimes possesses the raw honesty of John Lennon combined with the orchestral waterfall colors of Brian Wilson. And now...curiously, and truthfully just at this moment of writing, it has occurred to me the artistic question of whether Billy Corgan is possibly rock and roll's Stephen King?
Dear readers, I will first admit to you that I am not well versed in the bibliography of Stephen King. That being said, I do know that his ouevre is largely interconnected with all manner of characters, stories, themes, terminologies and symbolisms flowing freely from one novel to the next and back again. When Billy Corgan first announced that the band would be recording a 33 song rock opera that would serve as a sequel album to both "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness" (released October 24, 1995) and "MACHINA/the machines of God" (released February 29, 2000), featuring the next phase of the Zero character from the first album to the Glass character from the second, I was enthralled at the prospect, especially as Corgan had been hinting at a desire to do "one more opera" in interviews promoting the release of "Shiny And Oh So Bright, Vol. 1/LP: No Past, No Future, No Sun" (released November 16, 2018).
I admit that for a brief spell, I was curious if Volume 2 in the "Shiny and Oh So Bright" series, the 20 song, double album synthetic rabbit hole of "CYR" (released November 27, 2020), was this mysterious new opera that Billy Corgan wanted the band to dive into as its next artistic statement. It was not. However, by the time Corgan revealed that the next incarnation of Zero/Glass was named Shiny, the complexities and connections became that much more labyrinthine, the musical world building that much more expansive...or perhaps, was it there all along, hiding in plain sight?
Maybe I am getting ahead of myself. But for an artist, a band and now, a new album such as this one, I feel the need to delve a into the weeds for a while.
For the past few months, I have become fully immersed in the long awaited triple album rock opera from The Smashing Pumpkins entitled "ATUM" (pronounced autumn). I will admit that my initial reaction to the work was perhaps slightly muted but such as things are within Pumpkinland, the initial meeting with the music was unorthodox, yet deeply compelling and now, as I look back I wondered if it was an updated version of plans Billy Corgan attempted to execute in the past yet did not fully come into fruition.
This part of my journey to "ATUM" began with a podcast. "Thirty-Three With William Patrick Corgan," featuring co-hosts Joe Galli and Kyle Davis and a series of guests began September 19, 2022. It was a weekly program devoted to premiering one new song from the album over the 33 week period during which Corgan would extrapolate upon the genesis of each song and its role in the album narrative to such a meticulous degree that made for a compulsive listening experience that was akin to what I would imagine was the experience of hearing a weekly 1940's radio serial play. Beyond the actual song of the week, Corgan would then widen his conversational scope to include themes that tied towards the narrative certainly but allowed us a glimpse at the man behind the wizard, which conveyed his spirit as a philosophical humanist, historian, linguist, a dash of a contrarian and conspiracy theorist, and all of this plus more congealed into who the man is as an artist. (my only quibble...could someone please explain to the man--again, the historian and linguist--exactly what "woke" means...but I digress).
Every week, I waited with bated breath to hear the latest track from the upcoming album and aside from a few selections, I have to openly admit to being a tad underwhelmed initially. It wasn't that I thought any of the material was subpar because nothing was by a long shot. But not much really quite connected. The dopamine rush didn't quite happen but that was OK with me as I also openly admit that I purposefully did not re-listen to each episode's song as I wanted to wait and hear the album in full once the entire project was fully released, despite the plan to initially release each of the three acts separately for streaming.
My issue was rooted in that sense of perception as when I think of the term "rock opera," as well as the albums both "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness" and "MACHINA/the machines of God" are, my brain imagined something more immediately guitar centered or something as openly thunderous as the band's past work. The new material carried a larger synthetic aesthetic and is keyboard heavy, which made me think that despite this role of "ATUM" in this trilogy, that it felt more like an album connected to "CYR"--an album, despite its own role in the "Shiny and Oh So Bright" series, was a work that I felt possessed the next phase to both the societal warnings of "Zeitgeist" (released July 10, 2007) and the spiritual odyssey/crisis of "Oceania" (released June 19, 2012).
To make musical maters even more entangled was a revelation on the podcast regarding the new album's central character. Billy Corgan had long already confirmed that the Zero/Glass character of the ongoing opera now existed in the form of Shiny who now exists within the "ATUM" storyline set 20 years in the future when Earth is ruled under one authoritarian government known as The X & I and Shiny himself -at age 70-has been exiled from Earth and has been orbiting the sun for said two decades. The layers deepened when Corgan referred to the "Shiny and Oh So Bright" title as a band name as in..."Shiny and the Oh So Bright"...like "Glass and the Machines Of God" from "MACHINA."
So..let's see...in the full, overarching narrative of the three albums or even ALL of the albums, are Volumes 1 and 2 seen as albums by Shiny and the Oh So Bright, essentially The Smashing Pumpkins in character a la The Beatles as Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band? Is "CYR" a synthetic dream state featuring Shiny's thoughts during his outer space exile?
What I can say after hearing the album in its entirety and immersing in it with repeated listenings is the following: The Smashing Pumpkins' "ATUM" is a demanding, expansive work but one that is exceedingly listenable, as it is overflowing with a cornucopia of some of Billy Corgan's most beautiful melodies, several of which are honestly lump in the throat inducing.
It is the fulfillment of the promise set by the official return of co-founder/guitarist/songwriter/singer James Iha and drummer extraordinaire Jimmy Chamberlin to the band in 2018, following the repair of their personal relationships a few years prior. It is further confirmation to the essential presence of guitarist Jeff Schroeder (who extends to keyboard duties this time around), who joined the band in 2007 during the reformation period and whose Pumpkins tenure has even exceeded those of the original members. By album's end, "ATUM" has more than proven its sense of artistic triumph, by making it a work I wish to hear all over again immediately upon the album's conclusion, it is also one that makes me very excited to hear where the band will go next.
With the classic prog rock concept album sound of a gong, the album opens the scene with ACT I, the instrumental title track which carries a Kubrick-ian cosmic openness of keyboard flourishes, guitar shooting stars and that deep bass and drums suggesting the vastness of the universe. From here, we are introduced to the narrative's cast of characters which stars Shiny, the aforementioned rock star exiled into space from Earth due to being perceived as an existential threat to The X & I. The Broadway-esque "Butterfly Suite" introduces us to lovelorn superfan June, who bargained her way onto her own spaceship to follow Shiny, who, by contrast, has no idea that she exists. As Shiny decides to end his existence by punching in the irreversible code of The March Of Life--as represented by the defiant boom of "The Good In Goodbye"--which will direct his spaceship into the heart of the sun, a horrified June sends a coded distress message (via a Shiny demo "With Ado I Do") to underground Earth bound internet chat groups with the hopes that someone, anyone will respond and possibly save Shiny's life.
On Earth, we have teenagers Osirah and Nighthawk, members of the hacker group Hopus Dei who discover the message and while not ever having been fans of Shiny, whose work has been essentially erased on Earth, they are curious enough to follow the virtual breadcrumbs and share Shiny's globally banned message with the world, therefore alerting The X & I, now placing their lives in danger. Osirah's sense of rebelliousness and the coming uprising are represented by the ominous "Embracer." Osirah also contacts June, alerting her that the message has been received and shared, resulting in June's elation and hopes that Shiny can be saved ("Steps In Time") as well as her romantic daydreams of a life with Shiny (the sparkling "Where Rain Must Fall").
After June sends a return message to Osirah giving her and Nighthawk coordinates where they can find out crucial information and a "treasure" concerning the identity of the exiled Shiny, The X & I are in murderous pursuit (the menacing "Beyond The Vale"). Arriving at an abandoned and long dilapidated amusement park called "Dream Dream," the teenagers come across Ruby the robot, envisioned as a 1920's showgirl, who will give them access to the treasured hard drive that contains Shiny's pure consciousness, yet not until after she powers up and sings her signature tune "Hooray!," a track fully reminiscent of Disney's "The Main Street Electrical Parade."
ACT I concludes with "The Gold Mask," a representation of the automaton Ruby with the emotionless consciousness of Shiny and to whom Osirah and Nighthawk can communicate with and discover how they may be able to thwart the totalitarian regime of The X & I.
ACT II opens in a field of sunflowers as Osirah, Nighthawk and Ruby contemplate the pivotal moment in which they all exist, thus foreshadowing the unquestionably dire consequences to come in the expansive, pensive yet soaring "Avalanche." and unleashed in the roaring "Empires," the former Zero's pure conscious warning to the world--an illegal message now heard globally.
Knowing that her message has been received, a vindicated June then decides to join Shiny in The March Of Life and heads towards the heart of the sun. In an act of rebellion, other exiled into space Earthling, in defiance to The X & I via a chorus of "It ain't right!!" also punch in The March Of Life code in tis resolute "Neophyte." Meanwhile on Earth, as society is now knowledgeable of what is happening in space, the global gaslighting of The X & I springs into action in the militaristic "Moss."
Through the sublime, shimmering meditative mid act trilogy of "Night Waves,"' Space Age" and the astounding "Every Morning," we find our cast in states of rumination. Osirah with the consequences of her actions, older hacker Dr. Aesh's with his memories of a past, more democratic society and deep in space, just as Shiny is about to reach the point of no return, the album's celestial Greek chorus, known as The Seraphim (as represented by the glorious backing vocals of Katie Cole and Sierra Swan), alert Shiny that his life's work is not yet complete...and inexplicably his ship turns to return to Earth...leaving June and other exiles lost in the gravitational pull of the sun ("To The Grays").
The glam rock stomp of "Beguiled" finds Dr. Aesh is a crisis of consciousness as he betrays the teenagers and Ruby by leading The X & I to his safehouse, where Nighthawk is killed. Filled with remorse and before his own death via The X & I, Dr. Aesh gives Osirah and Ruby a jet pack to escape in the spiraling, skyward "The Culling."
With "Springtimes," ACT II ends as it began, in a open field where Osirah and Ruby have landed and now bid farewell, leaving each other to go their own ways in a markedly changed world.
The dynamic, climactic ACT III begins with the outstanding seven minute plus slow burn "Sojourner," during which June in facing certain death and Ruby and Osirah on Earth awaiting Shiny's return to the planet in which he is being welcomed in the subterfuge of a ceremony by The X & I. Upon emerging back onto the planet from which he was exiled and erased from global history, and miraculously not having aged a day, a confused Shiny cautiously meets the moment with vague pleasantries as a means to gather his bearings.
The X & I then commandeer the proceedings to the chants of "ZERO!! ZERO!! ZERO!!!"during the spectacular arena rock, Queen accented operatics of "That Which Animates The Spirit," while in the audience stands a despondent Osirah, perceiving that Shiny is not here to begin a hoped for revolution but to acquiesce to the government. "The Canary Trainer" is her lament.
As June nears the end in the pulsating "Pacer," the pounding "In Lieu Of Failure" finds Shiny invited to a celebration featuring a performance by a Glass and the Machines Of God cover band, in which he partakes for old times sakes until Osirah arrives in a fury, turns the crowd against Shiny, who is whisked to safety in the nick of time by Ruby.
Sequestered, Ruby explains to Shiny everything that has happened in the quiet "Cenotaph," but time is running out as both The X & I and Osirah are in pursuit of Shiny in the snarling "Harmageddon," as the government wishes to capture and control while the teenage hacker wants to kill him, for if he refuses to make the world better, then what good is he? Soon, Shiny and Ruby reach his spaceship and Shiny is now faced with the ultimate decision in "Fireflies," remain on Earth or leave the planet forever by his own volition.
Propelled by Jimmy Chamberlin's furiously tribal drums, the nearly nine minute "Intergalactic" sets the stage for the finale as Osirah and The X & I reach Shiny, guns armed and aimed directly at our hero. Realizing that his life on Earth will offer him noting and he has spiritually reached a level of peace within himself, he dares Osirah to pull the trigger knowing that the revolution she hopes for will not arrive even in his death. She fires, hits Ruby, who again saves Shiny as they board the spaceship and blast off.
On the gorgeous, jet force glory of "Spellbinding," hurtling through space, inexplicably Shiny understands that June is the one who saved him and loves him and in doing so, he turns towards the heart of the sun to find her. And the album draws to a close with the elegiac, tear inducing "Of Wings" which emotionally sends us and Shiny beyond the sun into points unknown.
On a pure musical level, The Smashing Pumpkins' "ATUM" is a beautifully diverse album on which the band delivers their signature brand of hard rock, metal shredding, and expansive prog rock directly alongside dream pop, acoustic/electronic hybrids, new wave textures, and folk ballads all fueled by Billy Corgan's one of a kind lyricism.
With full disclosure and with no intended disrespect to Billy Corgan as a lyricist, with any music, I do not tend to gravitate towards the lyrics initially. It is the overall sound of the piece that gives me my first impressions with lyrics tending to reveal themselves after repeated listenings. In regards to Corgan's lyrics, they have almost always felt like an additional instrument to me, with phrases and words almost popping out of my speakers to my ears instead of the entire set whole cloth, and "ATUM" is no exception. All of that being said, Billy Corgan's narrative as depicted via his poetic, Shakespearean styled linguistics serves to speak of himself and his musings through all manner of allegory, symbolism, metaphors, invented spellings, song titles that sound more like book chapter titles, his ever evolving cast of characters and the full iconography of his and his band's musical language.
Even though we have the full narrative and Billy Corgan's podcast explanations at our service, the lyrics tremendously invite us to lean in closer to interpret and discover, thus deepening the overall connection and meaning to the work. I am certain that if I had ample time on my hands, I could easily spend another several months to a year deciphering the lyrics line by line. But as for right now, I am going with how the album makes me feel when I listen.
For me, The Smashing Pumpkins' "ATUM" is a monumental yet demonstrably mournful work. While not dour in the least, it feels to be a fully immersive lament for a world without nuance, where perceived realities carry greater weight than empirical truths and a worldview that exists only in binary options. Where people can be erased from the planet for no other reason than the self preservation of fascistic rule, a tide that can only be turned when all of the oppressed rise and reclaim their inherent power.
I am certain that there are some who may feel the album is a right wing leaning dissertation of Billy Corgan's potentially Libertarian fantasies, nightmares and rants against the dreaded "cancel culture.". But, again, there is nuance which is asking to be considered, for in our very real world, where an artist such as Bill Cosby, for instance, did indeed create a peerless, timeless body of work and achievement while also committing horrific crimes against women for decades, notice how his aforementioned body of work and accolades have gradually disappeared...as if erased from existence--except from the people who knew him personally, so what does such an erasure really solve?
Again, I digress, but what I am really getting at is that I do hear a truly humanistic approach at work to Corgan's narrative as the album ultimately represents an honest plea to understand that every single person on the planet has value and matters to the symbiotic nature of the existence of all. Everyone deserves to be seen as who they genuinely are and not as who they are perceived to be. In "ATUM," Shiny is continuously referred to as Zero, a representation of his past. Osirah's wrath is directed towards Shiny, yet he is a person she does not know or had even cared about prior to the events of the album, therefore making her rage something directed towards a representation of what she wants Shiny to be and not who he actually is.
This theme reminded me of what Prince sang in his iconic track "Controversy"(single released September 2, 1981) "Was it good 4 U? Was eye what U wanted me 2 B?" A theme that has played out in the real world with Billy Corgan and The Smashing Pumpkins with factions of the fan community who after 30 years, will still not allow him or them to advance past "Siamese Dream" (released July 27, 1993), regardless of the fact that those individuals and the circumstances in which that album was made cannot ever be reconstructed in the exact same way again.
Shiny's journey often feels as if he is trapped in a world he never quite constructed for himself, that he is a pawn for the agendas of others without being seen for who he truly is or can be. And it is telling that Shiny never makes a significant appearance until Act III. Events, occurrences, transgressions, anything and everything except for his humanity defines him but again, it is all a perception that he couldn't change if he tried...and who says, that in any of his incarnations--as Zero, Glass or Shiny--he hasn't? No wonder he chooses to finally leave Earth for good.
The conceptual storytelling of "ATUM" and its musical scope reminded me very much of past albums including the final third of The Who's "Tommy" (released May 17, 1969), Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's "Jesus Christ Superstar" (released October 27, 1970), The Kinks' "Preservation Act 2" (released May 8, 1974), Genesis' "The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway" (released November 29, 1974), and Planet P. Project's "Pink World" (released 1984).
As far as the instrumentation is concerned, with regards to how the music interprets the narrative, yes, the material leans more towards the synthetic with keyboards and analog synthesizers than the Pumpkin guitar army--which feels appropriate considering the cosmic theme and setting. For this album, Corgan, alongside Jeff Schroeder who joins him on keyboards this time around, creates a soundscape that is as lushly orchestrated as anything we may have heard in the past by the likes of Wendy Carlos and Vangelis--whose iconic film score to Ridley Scott's "Blade Runner" (1982) often came to mind--and the effect is thrilling in its musical world building. One moment in particular truly stood out to me during the track "Sojourner," in which the narrative describes the re-entrance of Shiny to Earth, the awe of the crowd as well as Shiny's own trepidation and confusion are entirely conveyed without lyrics. The keyboard soundscapes are so vivid that I swear, I could see the moment happening in my mind's eye.
The backing vocals from Katie Cole and Sierra Swan, to my ears, are superlative and only continue to build upon the Pumpkins' musical bedrock with succulence. How they coo "I love you" during June's "Butterfly Suite." The operatic textures that surround Corgan's voice in "Sojourner." The militaristic coldness of "NO...NO...NO" in "Empires." Are they really singing "meow meow" in "Moss"? Every time they appeared, my ears perked upwards and once again, just as with "CYR," if the project allows, I sincerely hope and wish that the band utilizes their efforts again.
As for Corgan's core bandmates, and just as with "CYR," the actual contributions of Jimmy Chamberlin, James Iha and Jeff Schroeder may not always be instantly obvious due to the production and musical aesthetic of this project. But, through repeated listenings, the dense layers upon layers of sound continuously reveal themselves, again transforming for all of us exactly what an album by The Smashing Pumpkins can actually be and sound like. There are copious nods to the past, but still, the album is no throwback or retread, as it delivers a modern sheen that not only points to whatever arrives next but has now also informed everything we have heard since the reformation. .
And now, back to Stephen King.
While I am not well versed in his bibliography at all, I do remember when I first read Stephen King's It (published September 15, 1986), I was astounded that even over its 1000 page plus duration, just how labyrinthine the story actually was, how far beyond its initial conceit of a group of friends fighting a demonic force, first as children and again as adults, actually travelled. How the book was really a story about stories as each memory folded into another and then another, ultimately weaving a narrative about the nature of evil itself. Absolutely everything was connected and threads from past novels were woven into the narrative while threads from this novel extended further into future King novels to this day, making his entire bibliography feel like audiences have been experiencing one long story for decades.
With The Smashing Pumpkins' "ATUM," we are invited upon a "Rocket" ride as we move from "Alienation" to "Hope" or "Home" by (or is it "Bye") way of June and through the eyes of Ruby. How can we not think of "Solara" as Shiny is doomed to be engulfed by the sun? What if in his final moments on the album as he races for June, we feel her ultimate vindication and validation as she has been pleading for Shiny to "Believe in me as I believe in you"?
Billy Corgan has expressed that Easter Eggs are sprinkled throughout the album and who knows if I will ever find them all or any (although I did spot "Starz" in the lyrics--is that one?). But, it really feels like every release since the reformation have all been stepping stones to "ATUM," musically, thematically as well as narratively, whether fictional or real, and furthermore, the musical grace notes throughout are as enlightening as they are filled with delight. A quick Google search explains that ATUM, as represented in ancient Egyptian religion, is the manifestation of the sun and creator god, perhaps being the original God. And with that in mind am I really hearing a close series of notes that echo in the title theme "Hark The Herald Angels Sing"? Moving all the way to the end of the album with "Of Wings," I was so moved hearing the quick reprise of the "Clementeen...Clementine..." phrase from "Hooray!"
New discoveries only lead to new questions and again...it feels more and more that everything is connected as we reach "ATUM." While the first volume of the Shiny series may have originally functioned as a "Hello. We're back!" from the band to listeners and the second album took a swan dive into the electronic side of the Pumpkins universe, the arrival of "ATUM" now informs and recontextualizes both albums as again, you can hear the threads that lead to the rock opera, how the band has been setting the table all of this time for the reveal of this sumptuous sonic meal.
Additionally, we can read through the narrative certain allegories and parallels to The Smashing Pumpkins as real flesh and blood human beings who exist in a rock band that some have been trying to cast aside for decades and are continuously foiled. Shiny has been exiled from Earth and in a way, it could be read as a metaphor to the band's outsider status within their contemporaries as well as within the music industry as a whole, despite all of their global success.
The Smashing Pumpkins are one of these bands that I find myself having to defend as they are admittedly an acquired taste and not one that has ever possessed the warm, communal spirit of say Foo Fighters. To that end, I have long contended that Billy Corgan has not received the respect that he more than deserves for his body of work but he is also held to an impossibly higher standard than his contemporaries. And so, I would imagine that Corgan and the band feel somewhat cast aside and undervalued in the overall conversation of rock music and what it means to be a relevant band in the 21st century. Certainly, the band, and definitely Corgan tend to thrive on being backed into a corner and having something to prove. But, by the same token, it must be exhausting after over 30 years in the game.
The theme of marginalization presented throughout the album might also be a factor that addresses the band's past internally as some members were bound to have been overshadowed by Billy Corgan due to the immense intensity of his talent, prolific nature, skill and leadership. Returning to Corgan himself, his own feelings of being marginalized are represented not only by Shiny choosing to leave Earth but in songs over and again in which he echoes a certain sentiment as heard in The Beach Boys' "I Just Wasn't Made For These Times" from "Pet Sounds" (released May 16, 1966), especially as "I tried so hard," he exclaims in the classic "Today."
Shiny's decision to take a suicidal ride into the sun when he punches The March Of Life code made me wonder if this was referencing times during which Corgan found himself in emotional/psychological/spiritual crisis and just as an inexplicable force intervenes to save Shiny and send him back to Earth, something has essentially saved Billy Corgan's life more than once as despondency and turmoil led to whatever forces that pushed him to create the likes of "Siamese Dream" (released July 27, 1993), "Adore" (released June 2, 1998) and his second solo album "Ogilala" (released October 13, 2017).
Further still, is "ATUM" also seen as an ode from the band to the fans that have sustained them as represented in Shiny and June? For who are we who love The Smashing Pumpkins to the members of the band? They do not know us at all and I would gather, we know the truth of them via the songs, despite whatever public personas they may be projecting. June loves Shiny but has never met him and Shiny does not know June exists. Yet, by album's end, each of them are truly seen by the other, leading to their communion in the and beyond the sun. In turn, The Smashing Pumpkins, and Billy Corgan in particular, feels seen when we, the fans, respond to the work they have all created...or at least to our honest attempts to meet them where they are.
June spends the album reaching towards Shiny, who finally reaches back by album's end and in a way, "ATUM" sees The Smashing Pumpkins reaching out towards us as they ask us to reach further for them as they deliver such an enormous, complex, dynamic and often gorgeous musical work. As I listen to this album, I keep thinking how they could have taken the easy way out so many times, delivered "Siamese Dream 2" and called it a day on the touring circuits performing their hits ad nauseum as a nostalgia act... but they didn't!
The Smashing Pumpkins are a band that continues to demonstrate that there is more territory to unearth, new horizons to discover, greater heights to reach, more barriers to break. As we live in a time where music has been so devalued, this band continues to try so valiantly due to the belief that music itself is worth the attempt.
The Smashing Pumpkins' "ATUM" is far and away one of my favorite albums of 2023.
