Cyr  by The Smashing Pumpkins

The Smashing Pumpkins band was formed back in 1988 in Chicago. In 2020, they released their eleventh studio album. Cyr is far from the sound that established them with their first albums in the '90s. Its timbre mainly relies on synth-pop and electropop lines, and only Billy Corgan's voice reminds of the band in its early days.

Nevertheless, the band seems to be in very good form and appears to enjoy the creation of Cyr. The entirety of the compositions on every level is by Billy Corgan, who deliberately shifted the music towards electronic sound as a form of experimentation, while he also oversaw the production of the entire album. All twenty compositions stand at a very good level and certainly do not go unnoticed. The drawback is the long duration of the album, which eventually tires the listener. It should be noted here that Billy Corgan originally had thirty-five compositions ready, from which a selection was made, and Cyr reached its final form with "only" twenty songs (!)

Commercially, Cyr did not do well at all. None of its singles reached anywhere. In the U.S., the highest position was at No.86, and in Britain, it managed to reach No.71. Certainly, it is not the band's masterpiece, but nonetheless, Cyr stands among the decent and interesting albums of the Smashing Pumpkins.