Moroni's Review of Pixies' "EP1"

Pixies

Anyone who knows me knows that the Pixies are one of my favorite bands ever.  To me, 1989's "Doolittle" is the best rock album ever, as I talked about here.  Last weekend, on my first karaoke experience ever, my wife suggested that I sing a Pixies song, and I did a rousing rendition of "Monkey Gone To Heaven."  I was heartbroken when they broke up in 1991 and thrilled when they reunited in 2003.

However, their reunion was mainly to tour.  They really didn't produce any new music - until now.  2013 has been an interesting year for the Pixies.  Earlier this year, they released a new single - "Bagboy" - on their website.  It was such a relief to me to hear the Pixies back in their form.  Sadly, this year, bassist and vocalist Kim Deal left the band.  She has been replaced by Kim Shattuck, who is quite good, but I was sad to see the band's performance last month on Jimmy Fallon without Kim Deal.

Last month, Pixies released their first new music in 22 years - the simply-named "EP1", which hints that other EPs are to follow.  This is a very exciting deal to me.

Of course, nothing is going to ever match up to "Doolittle".  But it is nice to see the Pixies back in form.  The songs remind me quite a bit of a lot of the music that Frank Black (aka Black Francis) released during his solo years.  The album starts out with a little space oddity called "Andro Queen".  The song is followed by "Another Toe in the Ocean", which continues their penchant for surf music.  The EP concludes with "What Goes Boom", a hard rocking tune with Francis's trademark roar.  It is offset with a melodic chorus.

The centerpiece of the EP is "Indy Cindy", as good as anything the Pixies have ever done - psychedelic lyrics spat out with sarcasm and a sweet chorus.

It is great to see the Pixies back, and I hope to see more new music from them in the future.