Description

As fired up as ever before, Pixies release their eighth studio album Doggerel via BMG.Doggerel is a mature yet visceral record of gruesome folk, ballroom pop and brutal rock, haunted by the ghosts of affairs and indulgences, driven wild by cosmic forces and envisioning digital afterlives where no God has provided one. And all the while, right there on the news, another distant storm approaches.Guitarist Joey Santiago says, This time around we have grown. We no longer have under twominute songs. We have little breaks, more conventional arrangements but still our twists in there.Vocalistguitarist Black Francis adds, We039re trying to do things that are very big and bold and orchestrated. The punky stuff, I really like playing it but you just cannot artificially create that shit. There039s another way to do this, there039s other things we can do with this extra special energy that we039re encountering.That energy shimmers in the albums new single Theres A Moon On, which fits into the space between prototype squalling Pixies guitars and heartland rock classicism. Thematically it plays somewhere between fact and legend, playing upon the adrenalizing effect of the lunar cycle on the human psyche, a phase during which the drunks in Franciss brothers bar become more aggressive.A congregation between darkness and beauty consistently emerges throughout the record. Theres Haunted House, a spirited concoction of 50sflavoured pop with ghosts both literal and metaphoric, as well as the brooding Morricone desert rock of Vault of Heaven, and a breezy folkrock melody on Pagan Man. But Pixies still possesses a ferocious edge, one that feeds into the grinding intensity and surrealism of Nomatterday and The Wholike power of Dregs of the Wine, which will surely be the first and last Pixies song to namecheck Van Halen.Its a record with an unusual genesis. Instead of building upon rough ideas in the studio, Black Francis turned up to sessions with 40 songs prepared. Sessions started late in 2021 with producer Tom Dalgety Royal Blood, Ghost working with Francis in Massachusetts, before they headed to LA to finish tracks with the rest of the band.Their input would be vital. Santiago contributed his first two Pixies songwriting credits, with music for Dregs of the Wine and lyrics for Doggerel. Meanwhile, drummer David Lovering and bassist Paz Lenchantins performances have the uninhibited energy of two musicians who both confess to feeling reinvigorated by the process. Pixies Cassette is available for home delivery from Vinyl Records London, only £8 +P&P