''TheFutureEmbrace'' is the debut solo album by American musician

Billy Corgan William Patrick Corgan Jr. (born March 17, 1967) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and professional wrestling promoter. He is best known as the lead singer, primary songwriter, guitarist, and only permanent member of the rock band th ...

, frontman of the

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

band

The Smashing Pumpkins The Smashing Pumpkins (also referred to as simply Smashing Pumpkins) are an American alternative rock band from Chicago. Formed in 1988 by frontman and guitarist Billy Corgan, bassist D'arcy Wretzky, guitarist James Iha and drummer Jimmy Chambe ...

. Released in June 2005, the album's sound was markedly different from most of Corgan's earlier work, eschewing his characteristic "drums, bass, (and) big-guitars sound" in favor of an

electronic Electronic may refer to: *Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductor * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic co ...

sound punctuated with heavily distorted guitar parts reminiscent of

shoegaze Shoegaze (originally called shoegazing and sometimes conflated with "dream pop") is a subgenre of indie and alternative rock characterized by its ethereal mixture of obscured vocals, guitar distortion and effects, feedback, and overwhelming volu ...

.Corgan, Billy. "Blue Room Interview, Part I." Recorded 2005. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neC8TzeR0tg

Background and production

After the dissolution of

Zwan Zwan was an American alternative rock supergroup that was formed by Billy Corgan and Jimmy Chamberlin, lead singer/guitarist and drummer of The Smashing Pumpkins respectively, after they disbanded in December 2000. Other members included bassis ...

in late 2003, Corgan set to work on a solo album of songs based on the history of his hometown,

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

. This project was shelved and Corgan began work on ''TheFutureEmbrace'' in late 2004 in his Chicago studio, Pumpkinland. Rather than repeat the sonic territory of his earlier bands, Corgan decided on an electronic sound with shoegaze influences. Regarding the atypical sound of the album, Corgan remarked, The sound of the album is almost entirely synthesized, with the exception of Corgan's voice and guitar playing.Liesegang, Brian. Q&A on Gearslutz.com forum under username "LesterMagneto". https://www.gearslutz.com/board/electronic-music-instruments-electronic-music-production/581048-billy-corgan-future-embrace.html 2011-02-13. Corgan has an extensive collection of vintage

analog synthesizer An analog (or analogue) synthesizer is a synthesizer that uses analog circuits and analog signals to generate sound electronically. The earliest analog synthesizers in the 1920s and 1930s, such as the Trautonium, were built with a variety of ...

s and drum machines that were employed on the album. The synths were largely programmed by

Bon Harris Bon Harris (born Vaughan David Harris; 12 August 1965 in Chelmsford, Essex, England) is an English composer, producer, singer and songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. He is a founding member of the British EBM group Nitzer Ebb, programming Ni ...

Nitzer Ebb Nitzer Ebb () are a British EBM group formed in 1982 by Essex school friends Vaughan "Bon" Harris (programming, synthesizers, drums, vocals), Douglas McCarthy (vocals), and David Gooday (drums). History Initial releases (1983–1987) The ...

. Arrangements on the album followed an unusual process: for each song, Corgan would write the basic structure, and the song's melody was then split into four sections based on the

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gu ...

tenor A tenor is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The low extreme for tenors i ...

, alto, and soprano voicings of the chord structure. The production team – Corgan, Harris, producer Bjorn Thorsrud, and programmers Matt Walker and Brian Liesegang – would then program different synth melodies in each voicing, and combine them into a multitrack recording. Drums were added, mostly from pre-1985 drum machines. At this point, Corgan would rework vocal parts and record vocals, as well as recording his guitar part. Each song contains a single take of guitar, in stark contrast to the

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the capital city, state capital and List of municipalities in Massachusetts, most populous city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financ ...

-style multitracking employed on Smashing Pumpkins albums. Despite the challenge of this approach, it was employed for all album tracks as well as an additional 8 outtakes. The album features backing vocals and a guitar solo by

The Cure The Cure are an English rock band formed in 1978 in Crawley, West Sussex. Throughout numerous lineup changes since the band's formation, guitarist, lead vocalist, and songwriter Robert Smith has remained the only constant member. The band's ...

frontman

Robert Smith Robert Smith or Bob Smith, or similar, may refer to: Business * Robert MacKay Smith (1802–1888), Scottish businessman, meteorologist and philanthropist who founded Glasgow University's Mackay Smith Prizes * Robert Barr Smith (1824–1915), ...

on a cover of the

Bee Gees The Bee Gees were a musical group formed in 1958 by brothers Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. The trio were especially successful in popular music in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and later as prominent performers in the disco music era i ...

' song " To Love Somebody", while "DIA" features electronic drums played by Corgan's longtime collaborator, drummer

Jimmy Chamberlin James Joseph Chamberlin (born June 10, 1964) is an American drummer and record producer. He is best known as the drummer for the alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins. Following the 2000 breakup of the band, Chamberlin joined Pumpkins fro ...

, as well as the violin and backing voice of

Emilie Autumn Emilie Autumn Liddell (born September 22, 1979) is an American singer-songwriter, poet, author and violinist. Autumn's musical style is described by her as "Fairy Pop", "Fantasy Rock" or "Victoriandustrial". It is influenced by glam rock and ...

Promotion

In the lead-up to the album, Corgan generated considerable attention when he started publishing an autobiography
''The Confessions of Billy Corgan''
on his website, piece-by-piece. The postings are notable for Corgan's candor regarding his family, personal relationships, and activity during different eras of The Smashing Pumpkins. Corgan updated the Confessions on a frequent basis, but after posting an entry titled "Following the Moon (1974)" on July 1, 2005, the entries stopped. The album was preceded by the release of a single and music video release of "Walking Shade". Corgan, with his touring band, performed "Mina Loy (M.O.H.)" on ''

Late Show with David Letterman The ''Late Show with David Letterman'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS, the first iteration of the ''Late Show'' franchise. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and was produced by Letterman's production c ...

'' the day before the album's release.Tour history: 2005
Smashing Pumpkins Fan Collaborative. Accessed on 2015-02-03. Corgan also appeared on ''

The Tonight Show with Jay Leno ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by Jay Leno that first aired from May 25, 1992, to May 29, 2009. It resumed production on March 1, 2010 and ended on February 6, 2014. The fourth incarnation of the ' ...

'', and played "To Love Somebody." Those who pre-ordered the album from the iTunes store received a bonus track from the TheFutureEmbrace recording sessions, "Tilt". "Tilt" was also included on the Target retail stores exclusive release, ''Red Room Vol. 4''.

Release and aftermath

''TheFutureEmbrace'' was released on June 21, 2005. On the day of its release, Corgan took out an ad and wrote that the album "picks up the thread of the as-yet-unfinished work and charter of The Smashing Pumpkins", and also announced plans to reform that band. ''TheFutureEmbrace'' received a mixed response from critics.

Jim DeRogatis James Peter DeRogatis (born September 2, 1964) is an American music critic and co-host of ''Sound Opinions''. DeRogatis has written articles for magazines such as ''Rolling Stone'', '' Spin'', ''Guitar World'' and ''Modern Drummer'', and for 15 ...

of the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...

'' said the album represented Corgan's "most distinctive and consistent music." Performing well below Smashing Pumpkins releases, it charted at number 89 in the UK and peaked at number 31 in the United States. As of February 2006, the album's domestic sales were a mere 69,000 units sold. Billy Corgan, with Matt Walker, Brian Liesegang and Linda Strawberry, embarked on an international club tour in support of the album in the summer of 2005. Beginning in 2015, ''TheFutureEmbrace'' songs began appearing in Smashing Pumpkins concert sets.

Track listing

All songs written by Billy Corgan, except as noted. # "All Things Change" – 3:59 # "Mina Loy (M.O.H.)" – 3:53 # "The CameraEye" – 3:04 # " ToLoveSomebody" (

Barry Gibb Sir Barry Alan Crompton Gibb (born 1 September 1946) is a British musician, singer-songwriter and record producer. He rose to worldwide fame as a member of the Bee Gees, one of the most commercially successful groups in the history of popula ...

Robin Gibb Robin Hugh Gibb (22 December 1949 – 20 May 2012) was a British singer and songwriter. He gained worldwide fame as a member of the Bee Gees pop group with elder brother Barry and fraternal twin brother Maurice. Robin Gibb also had his o ...

) – 4:00 # "A100" (Billy Corgan/Bon Harris) – 4:23 # "DIA" – 4:20 # "Now (And Then)" – 4:43 # "I'm Ready" – 3:44 # "Walking Shade" – 3:14 # "Sorrows (In Blue)" – 2:48 # "Pretty, Pretty Star" – 3:46 # "Strayz" – 3:31 ;Bonus track #

"Tilt" ( iTunes exclusive)

Personnel

– vocals,

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...

, drum machine,

synth A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis an ...

, programming, production, mixing *

– programming, production * Brian Liesegang – additional programming * Bjorn Thorsrud – production, mixing,

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

* Matt Walker – additional programming ;Guest musicians *