A few days ago on Reddit, I saw a topic asking if bands can ruin their legacy by releasing new music. I didn’t need to click on it to know the new Pixies EP, EP2, inspired it. It’s interesting: no band seems to stir up the controversy that Pixies does by simply making new music. Even Gawker got into it the other day, when an editor there ranked all of their songs on some arbitrary scale.
Frankly, you couldn’t pay me to read that list or even the Reddit discussion. Why? Because people still have an axe to grind about their favourite band still making new music.
Last year, EP1 came out to a lot of angry reviews; Pitchfork trashed the EP because it tarnished the band’s legacy. In a review of that EP, I lauded Black Francis for keeping on keeping on, for making new music on his own terms and refusing to settle back and play the hits.
And when one thinks about it in terms like that, the negative reviews start seeming awkward and petty. If, say, Sonic Youth got back together and started touring, but only played songs off of Daydream Nation or if Neil Young only played stuff from Harvest when he played Carnegie Hall earlier this month, I’d expect to see people taking them to task for over-relying on their back catalog.
But somehow it’s different for critics when their favourite band moves on from their favourite record; I’m probably a little guilty of that when I trashed Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories last year for not sounding like any of their previous albums. It poses an interesting question: if Black Francis, David Lovering and Joey Santiago regrouped under a different name, how would their music get received? Would critics like EP1 more if it weren’t a Pixies record? Can people divorce this band from the band that released Doolittle nearly 25 years ago?
Like it’s predecessor, EP2 is a short record: four songs and a running time of about 15 minutes. It was recorded around the same time, too, in October of 2012. I was worried when I read that in the press release: I liked EP1, but why weren’t these songs released on that EP? As it turns out, it’s probably more of a stylistic choice: these songs rock harder and are lyrically darker. I think they’re a stronger batch, too.
The opener, “Blue Eyed Hexe”, rocks as hard anything off Trompe le Monde; it’s guitar riff sounds like a first cousin to “U-Mass’”. Francis just about howls on this record, shouting out lines like “I tried to hide but I was not able / shirt was opened to her navel,” with a ferocity that wasn’t there on EP1. According to Black, it’s “a witch-woman kind of song.” No, really? Gee those lines about pentagrams and goats really tripped me up there.
He pulls back on “Magdalena”, singing a little more sweetly over chugging guitars and a pounding rhythm section. I’m not sure what rig Santiago uses (some kind of Moog pedal?), but his lead guitar soars all over the place and makes all sorts of weird, spacey rippling sounds. It’s probably the weakest song on the EP – the weird guitar is either distracting or what makes the song, depending on my mood – but even so, it’s still a pretty decent Pixies love song and miles better than “Bagboy”.
“Greens and Blues” sounds a little like a companion piece for EP1’s “Indie Cindy”, although it’s a little weirder. As Santiago’s lead guitar rips back and forth, Francis strums and sings about separating from someone. He’s gotten back into singing about UFOs, too: “I said I’m human but you know I lied, I’m only visiting this shore.” It’s hard not to read his “Greens and Blues” as the planet viewed from outer space, but maybe I’m being too literal: according to Francis, it’s intended as a set-closer. As he puts it in the press kit, this is “a goodbye song, but really more of a ‘good night’ song.”
Santiago’s guitar is all over “Snakes” as well: sliding back and forth over another vaguely familiar, shuffling guitar riff of Francis’ (this time, maybe you could call it “Robert Onion’s” cousin). Lyrically, it’s a darker tune too, with lyrics about “a plague for our mistakes” and what I assume is the end of the world. It’s an appropriate closer for the EP; I think it’d make a better set-closer, too.
If EP1 was the sound of a band trying new material and seeing what works, EP2 is Pixies more or less going back to what they know best. It reminds me a lot of their last full length, Trompe le Monde and of Black’s first couple solo records. It’s rocks like something from outer space, both with Santiago’s weird guitar effects and Francis’ off-kilter lyrics. And it’s nice to see that when they want to, Santiago and Francis can still grind out guitar riffs, not to mention Lovering’s pounding drumming.
I’m sure some people still aren’t happy that Francis, Santiago, Lovering and touring bassist Paz Lenchantin won’t just be playing the familiar hits when they start touring later this month. That’s cool; you can’t please everyone. But most of EP2 sounds as strong as anything they’ve done in years and even it’s worst song wouldn’t sound out-of-place on one of their full-lengths. Miss this one at your own peril.
Rating: 3.5/5