It’s a very good factor a legacy as towering because the Pixies’ is so exhausting to topple, as a result of they did have a very good go for some time there. Infinite and more and more joyless touring after their 2004 reunion lowered the worth of their legend, whereas bassist Kim Deal refused to make a brand new document as a result of, she stated, as a music fan, she wouldn’t wish to hearken to a brand new Pixies album.
After her departure, the discharge of Indie Cindy and Head Service – mediocre and unconvincing if not actively horrible information, generally flippantly making an attempt to shrug off the burden of the previous, generally audibly crushed beneath it – did little to disprove her level (plus for a lot of outdated followers, the Pixies with out Kim wasn’t actually the Pixies). But by 2019’s Beneath The Eyrie, Pixies Mk II had settled into their new pores and skin, sounding extra assured and not thrashing on the hook of their status on the likes of the breezy balladry of “Daniel Boone”. And if the die-hard purist Pixies fan may nonetheless be left wishing the previous 20 years had by no means occurred, coincidentally, that’s form of what the brand new, mature Pixies gave the impression of: strong, comforting late-’90s alt.rock, if not the piss-and-vinegar sort performed by Pixies Mk I.
Doggerel, on which they reunite with Beneath The Eyrie and Head Service producer Tom Dalgety, continues that settling-in course of, eschewing reinvention in favour of refinement. Its 12 songs had been chosen from a flurry of 40 written when Black Francis was reluctantly dragged from the cocoon of residence, having loved the escape and peace of lockdown, and its title appears to allude sarcastically to the important reception of Pixies Mk II, the concept they’re churning out boilerplate. But if “Nomatterday” opens proceedings on a traditional, ominous bassline and builds to a shouty punch of a refrain that would have been generated by a Pixies AI mannequin, the gothic flamboyance of Joey Santiago’s guitar is stuffed with life and power, and the track’s midway shift of velocity into chunky riffs lit by Paz Lenchantin’s sour-sweet vocals stops issues settling right into a groove. This can be a band not agonising, simply being.
And in the event you cease rating them in opposition to Surfer Rosa for only a second, the Pixies in 2022 sound relaxed, blissful, and wide-ranging, stretching out into ethereal melodies and gothic-country swagger the place they really feel prefer it. That is additionally the primary of their albums to characteristic writing credit for Santiago: he contributed the music of the enjoyable, thrashy “Dregs Of The Wine”, which contrasts Mudhoney-ish grungy chug with vaulting classic-rock riffs (and a traditional Black Francis indirect opening: “Whereas I choose the unique model of “You Actually Acquired Me”/She’s going to defer to the Van Halen model”). He additionally wrote the lyrics of the Leonard Cohen-ish funky-gothic-country title monitor, most likely essentially the most attention-grabbing track on Doggerel.
Elsewhere, the nice and cozy and peppy likes of “Haunted Home”, with its lush backing vocals and theremin, and “The Lord Has Come Again As we speak” recall the sense of liberation of the early Frank Black albums. And if the band aren’t pushing exhausting at any envelopes on the surly, slinky, barely psychedelic “Get Simulated”, or the rompy straight-ahead indie rock of “You’re Such A Sadducee”, they’re tinkering enjoyably on the edges on “Vault Of Heaven”’s lush melody and Morricone atmospherics, or the flamenco thrum, shimmering Fleetwood Mac licks and candy nagging refrain of “Who’s Extra Sorry Now” (“I swept the closet flooring/I discovered some metaphors”). They’re blissful to discover being a bit extra plush, a bit extra cosy, luxurious and mild, and if it will make Steve Albini nauseous, what of it?
And listening to them get pleasure from themselves is in itself gratifying on lead single “There’s A Moon On”, with its Halloween swagger, and regardless of reaching for “asunder” as a rhyme, the country-punk “Thunder & Lightning” has a completely irresistible refrain hook. “Don’t piss within the fountain”, Black Francis asserts, and possibly it’s sage recommendation.
Pixies Mk II now have as many albums as Pixies Mk I – in the event you’ve given up lately, maybe now could be the time to reopen the door to some small joys. If we are able to now safely conclude that the Pixies are unlikely to hit the heights of early days, then let’s face it, it’s the uncommon mortal who can; however it’s additionally the one barely much less uncommon mortal who could make albums as solidly good as this one. So long as the Pixies preserve making good Pixies songs, possibly we must always be taught to cease worrying and love the Doggerel.
