Pixies
The issue of protecting the Pixies' considerable legacy must have weighed heavily when contemplating their recorded comeback, and losing key member Kim Deal at the start of the sessions – who was as integral to the band's charisma as she was their bottom-end – was a blow that would have floored lesser bands. Still the remaining trio soldiered on and the result is Indie Cindy, their fifth long-player and first since 1991's Trompe Le Monde.
The collection certainly makes more sense as an album proper rather than the series of EPs and drip-fed tracks which characterised its unconventional release strategy. The Gil Norton-produced affair sounds fantastic and is bookended superbly with requisitely strong Pixies tracks What Goes Boom and Jaime Bravo, but in between it's a bit of a grab bag. Lead single Bagboy has grown in stature with the passing of time and is a standout, while the slightly inane glam stomp of Blue Eyed Hexe also demands attention. Their trademark quiet-loud dynamic is apparent in places (the surf-tinged title track) but is largely eschewed in favour of more conventional structures, yet even the more anodyne numbers have redeeming features like a fascinating off-kilter Black Francis arrangement (Andro Queen) or a killer Joey Santiago guitar line (Snakes).
It's definitely not Pixies' finest album, but who'd expect that after such a lengthy lay-off? While irrefutably imperfect, Indie Cindy remains a welcome addition to an inimitable canon, and (hopefully) a signifier of fine things to come.
