![\"Pixies,](\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/pixies-head_carrier.jpg\")
<\/a>It gets me every single time. I\u2019m conscious of the pattern, and yet when I\u2019m in its clutches, I convince myself that for some reason this time is different. When I first listened to Head Carrier<\/i> (Pixiesmusic\/PIAS), I didn\u2019t get it. Something wasn\u2019t right. Had the band I reserve as a barometer for compatibility, the band whose 1991 Brixton Academy performance, as captured in a joyous YouTube artifact, never fails to rehabilitate whatever decrepit mood I am in, the band I would declare to be greatest on Earth to St. Peter himself, even in the face of eternal Hell flames should he be in disagreement\u2014had they failed to deliver on their much-anticipated new album? More pointedly, had prolific frontman and songwriter Charles Michael Kittridge Thompson IV\u00a0 (a.k.a. Frank Black, a.k.a. Black Francis) personally let me down?<\/p>\nThe prospect was frightening and easy to indulge. As summer gave way to fall, cynicism was everywhere. The threat of a President Trump loomed ominously. Mercury was in retrograde. Fans, including myself, had been pining to hear this record for months. Though the now Kim Deal\u2013less reunited incarnation of the Pixies released a collection of three previously released EPs as Indie Cindy<\/i> in 2014, Head Carrier<\/i> marks their first proper full-length effort since 1991\u2019s Trompe Le Monde<\/i>. When I reserved a free evening to spend with my advance, I found to my chagrin that I didn\u2019t instantly fall in love. This was not at all what I wanted. I confided in a close friend, expressing my solipsistic doubt.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t you always do this?\u201d she asked skeptically.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, I do.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was true. Black Letter Days<\/i>, Devil\u2019s Workshop<\/i>, Show Me Your Tears<\/i>\u2014the run of bluesy, countrified rock records the prolific songwriter made with the now-defunct Frank Black and the Catholics in the early 2000s\u2014as well as the albums he later recorded with notable session musicians in Nashville (Honeycomb<\/i> and Fast Man Raider Man<\/i>), had elicited the same initial trepidation before I came to regard them as favorites. Is it the defense mechanism of an impassioned fan to dismiss something off the bat rather than invest high hopes and risk greater disappointment? Or is it evidence of Francis\u2019s understated genius that his best songs take time to reveal themselves, their nuance and maddening catchiness a reward for repeated listens? (Devil\u2019s Workshop<\/i> is an object lesson in this phenomenon.) I\u2019ve had more earworms from the Pixies and various Black solo projects than any other artists, but it\u2019s been awhile.<\/p>\n
When Head Carrier<\/i> finally clicked, I went berserk.<\/p>\n
Damn if it wasn\u2019t satisfying to hear Black Francis\u2019s voice come in over the title track, one whose churning guitar and bass onslaught bears traces of DNA from another monstrous album opener, Surfer Rosa\u2019s<\/i> \u201cBone Machine.\u201d It was a well-placed moment, the firing of all four cylinders and Thompson and company consecrating the album as their return. And the same for \u201cBaals Back,\u201d a full-on screamer in the style of \u201cRock Music\u201d that I had wondered if Thompson still had in him. If years of spaz-outs have scraped a layer or two of mania from Thompson\u2019s maturing vocal cords, his yell is still a standard-bearer, and I can\u2019t wait to hear it live. But the track I feel most compelled to write about is \u201cOona.\u201d It is Teenager of the Year<\/i>\u2013level infectious, with a big chorus that makes you stop what you\u2019re doing, move around, and sing along.<\/p>\n
\u201cTalent\u201d is another high mark, with a racing, urgent tempo that reminds me a bit of Black\u2019s contribution to the PowerPuff Girls soundtrack back in 2000, oddball storytelling and all. \u201cI met this real cool dude today. Looking like Jack Palance, he said I wanna get through to you and help you find your talent.”\u00a0\u201cClassic Masher,\u201d \u201cMight As Well Be Gone,\u201d and \u201cBel Esprit\u201d are twinkly pop excursions a la Doolittle\u2019s<\/i> well known tracks, while \u201cAll I Think About Now\u201d evokes one of the most well known cuts from Surfer Rosa<\/i>. Actually, it doesn\u2019t just evoke, its riff sounds uncannily like that of \u201cWhere Is My Mind?\u201d But just as I\u2019m imagining an exploding skyline and the closing credits of David Fincher\u2019s Fight Club<\/i>, bassist Paz Lenchantin\u2019s vocals, written by Thompson as a thank-you to Kim Deal, take a familiar rhythm in an entirely different, poignant direction: \u201cIf I could go to the beginning, I would be another way, make it better for today,. Remember when we were happy? If I\u2019m late, can I thank you now?\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a bit unfair that I\u2019ve discussed the record thus far strictly in terms of Thompson. Though the songwriting is saturated with his fingerprints, the Pixies\u2019 signature sound has always been the sum of its members. Deal\u2019s bass, breathy vocals, and amazing command of the stage were inextricable to the music they crafted in their college rock radio heyday, as were the contributions of guitarist Joey Santiago and drummer David Lovering. But her successor, Paz, has filled that difficult role with her own indomitable basslines and pretty vocals that work well to counter Thompson\u2019s howls, croons, and fancifully unhinged intonations. To my ears, this is a fine continuation of the Pixies\u2019 legacy.<\/p>\n
I enjoyed Indie Cindy<\/i>, finding it to improve with age, but it has yet to leave me with my mouth agape and ecstatic. It never led me to invite over friends and turn the stereo up to full volume. On the new album, I didn\u2019t just want cryptic lyrics and Biblical allusions and pretty pop songs matched by bursts of lunatic ferocity. I wanted songs that would catch me off-guard and knock me on my ass. And I think I got them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It gets me every single time. I\u2019m conscious of the pattern, and yet when I\u2019m in its clutches, I convince myself that for some reason this time is different. When I<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[34,820,156],"class_list":["post-5183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-reviews","tag-album-review","tag-pias","tag-pixies"],"yoast_head":"\n
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