Pixies - Head Carrier
Releasing your fifth album 23 years after your fourth was always going to be filled with ardent hope from your millions of fans. When the Pixies’ reunion album Indie Cindy came out a couple years ago, it carried with it such a weight of expectation that it pretty much collapsed under the pressure, although it was actually a fantastic collection of songs.
So then to Head Carrier, their sixth album. The surging Baals Back takes me right back to Planet of Sound, whilst the anthemic Classic Masher is a feel good indie classic (could totally have seen it filling the floor at Meltdown in 1995). Um Chagga Lagga is a crooked, beefy number, and the closest these songs get to anywhere near what the Pixies are capable of. Because this album, I type with a heavy heart, is a mere shadow of what Pixies used to be. It’s tired, disillusioned, sludgy, dull and sad, and none of it shows off what the Pixies have previously proven they can do at full strength - they’re not making me laugh, dance or rock out. Plus I miss Kim Deal. Go hard or go home, Pixies.
6/10
