Mary Star of the Sea by Zwan

Mary Star of the Sea, the one and only album by Zwan, landed on Reprise on January 28, 2003, with Billy Corgan producing alongside Bjorn Thorsrud. Zwan was Corgan's post-Smashing Pumpkins supergroup, formed in 2001 with his old Pumpkins drummer Jimmy Chamberlin, bassist Paz Lenchantin from A Perfect Circle, and guitarists David Pajo of Slint and Matt Sweeney of Chavez. Corgan and Chamberlin drove the music, and Corgan himself called it "the great lost Pumpkins record".

That's about right. Three guitars chime and churn at once, Chamberlin rolls like thunder under everything, and for once Corgan sounds almost sunny, most of all on the singles "Honestly" and "Lyric". The title honors both the Virgin Mary, whom Corgan said gave him comfort and guidance, and a Catholic church in Key West, Florida, where he spent time during the band's early rehearsals. It debuted at number 3 in the US, and seven months later Corgan pulled the plug, blaming fights inside the band.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.