Even at their angstiest, Silversun Pickups can’t help but sound smooth. Streamlined fuzz-heavy guitar-rock is the Los Angeles quartet’s calling card—the reason they were pegged as Smashing Pumpkins torch-carriers (or lightweight retreads, depending on the review) over a decade ago. And they’ve somehow gotten slicker on their uneven fourth album, Better Nature. Brian Aubert still yelps like Billy Corgan’s clean-cut cousin, and the production (courtesy of Jacknife Lee) maintains the sheen that catapulted early singles like “Lazy Eye” up the charts. But the Pickups have never sounded less forceful than they do here—emphasizing electronics and New Wave gauze on limp, would-be anthems like “Cradle (Better Nature)” and “Connection.” (“We enter through the front door/ With the keys we stole the night before,” Aubert warns on lead single “Nighlight,” but the threat feels unconvincing.) Only when the frontman grits his teeth through the gloss does Better Nature regains its mojo: “Friendly Fires” is an electrorock behemoth, framing the singer’s rasp with booming synth-bass and drums. The band’s caught in a tricky spot: By evolving, distancing themselves from their secondhand trademark sound, they’ve wound up more faceless than before.