Pixies – Indie Cindy

Perhaps to avert the crushing weight of expectation that comes with such a studio hiatus, the Pixies have been releasing this album in dribs and drabs for the best part of a year now, to mixed reception. However, finally presented as a single entity, Indie Cindy neatly fits into the Boston legends’ canon – in many ways the natural follow-up (after a mere twenty-odd years) to the experimental sound of their last studio album, Trompe le Monde.

Running the gamut of familiar Pixies tropes, it’s hardly top-notch throughout. Ring the Bell is a melodic pop song that really should have been filed under ‘needs a lot more work’ and Snakes and Another Toe in the Ocean are mere pastiches of the greatness that went before. However, very loud/quiet opener What Goes Boom, the psychedelic rockout (AC/DC meet The Beach Boys) Blue Eyed Hexe and synth-rock oddity that is Bagboy add to the feeling that the finest Pixies album is really [adopts Alan Partridge voice] The Very Best of The Pixies, and the six standout highlights here (coupled with the delightful 13-track live set – worth buying on its own) make a strong claim for inclusion.