“Walking Shade” by Billy Corgan

"Walking Shade" comes from TheFutureEmbrace, the June 2005 solo debut by Billy Corgan, the Smashing Pumpkins frontman, who was moving on from the collapse of Zwan in late 2003. His first plan for a solo record, an album of songs about the history of his hometown of Chicago, got shelved, and in late 2004 he started over at Pumpkinland, his studio in the city.

Corgan wrote and sang the song and produced it with Bon Harris and Bjorn Thorsrud; Thorsrud recorded it and shared the mix with him. The album around it deliberately walks away from the drums, bass and big-guitar roar Corgan built his name on, swapping in electronic textures and guitars distorted into a shoegaze blur, a gamble from a man who could simply have rebuilt the old machine.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz.