Pixies – Beneath the Eyrie
Pixies - Beneath the Eyrie
Release Date: 13th September 2019
I’m struggling over an introduction
for this one. I mean, how do you introduce a review for one of the most
influential bands of my lifetime as they release their new album upon the
world? Well, for now, I’ll just say that ‘Beneath the Eyrie’ is nothing short
of superb and will, no doubt, garner the band an army of new fans to add to their
already loyal massed ranks.
The album opens with ‘In the Arms
of Mrs. Mark of Cain’, a song that fades in from the shadows before the
thundering drums of Dave Lovering come charging in over the horizon and that
classic Pixies sound – searing guitars, sinister vocals, skewed melodies – is riding
triumphantly in the chariot. ‘Graveyard Hill’ finds Paz Lenchantin snaking her
bass like a grunge queen before Black Francis lets rip on that most of unique
of vocal talents. Recent single ‘Catfish Kate’ opens with the line “Call me
devil, call me friend but call me Black Jack who again, I came all the way from
Aberdeen to live among the Go-Betweens”, taking the band back to their earliest
roots both lyrically and musically. Meanwhile, ‘This Is My Face’ sounds like
the kind of music the Beatles might be making if they were still alive with a creepy
circus piano stomp and Francis singing from the shadows like Brando in
Apocalypse Now.
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The power behind Pixies has
always been their lack of ego which makes them unwoundable and so it’s no
surprise to find a genuine love song appear in the shape of ‘Ready for Love’ –
it is both sweet and sour in equal measure. ‘Silver Bullet’ is introspective
number with moonlit guitars and sombre vocals but this one has a sting in the
tail so don’t underestimate it. The band are having fun on ‘Long Rider’ with a Wild
West intro followed by distorted and punchy grunge guitars to die for and some
gorgeous layered vocal harmonies to seal the deal. Similarly, ‘Los Surfers
Meurtos’ has a deathly Mexican vibe and finds Lenchantin on vocal duties,
adding another layer of atmospherics to proceedings – it would make a great
addition to Coco 2: The Moody Teenage Years.
The idea of Blues-Grunge comes in
to play on ‘St. Nazaire’ as the band let rip and you have to hope this one will
be part of the live set when they hit Europe later this week. By contrast, ‘Bird
of Prey’ is a more jaunty number with bouncing bass lines and acoustic strum
that puts me in mind of the Violent Femmes. On ‘Daniel Boone’ the band are in
wistful mood as they sing about the American folk hero while the guitars
slither and slide lazily atop a gentle, nudging beat. The album closes out with
‘Death Horizon’, a two-minute drinking song that will surely be sung by many a
fan over the top of the gentle, indie-pop melody at the very end of the night. The
best thing about this album is not how wonderfully layered and textured the
songs are or how beautifully unique this band still manages to be but it’s the apparent
effortlessness with which Pixies can produce an album like ‘Beneath the Eyrie’
that really hits home. Stunning stuff.
More information: https://www.facebook.com/pixiesofficial/
Live Dates:
13th September – Motorpoint Arena, Cardiff
14th September – Pavilions, Plymouth
16th September – O2 Academy, Birmingham
17th September – O2 Academy, Leeds
18th September – O2 Apollo, Manchester
20th September – Alexandra Palace, London
21st September – O2 Academy, Newcastle
22nd September – O2 Academy, Glasgow
23rd September – Usher Hall, Edinburgh
25th September – Ulster Hall, Belfast
26th September – Olympia Theatre, Dublin
29th September – Sentrum Scene, Oslo
30th September – Cirkus, Stockholm
1st October – KB Hallen, Denmark
3rd October – Tivoli Vredenburg, Utrecht
4th October – O13 Poppodium, Tilburg
5th October – Columbianhalle, Berlin
7th October – Palladium, Cologne
8th October – Lucerna Music Hall, Prague
9th October – Gasometer, Vienna
11th October – Estragon, Bologna
12th October – Todays at OGR, Turin
13th October – X-Tra, Zurich
15th October – Tonhalle, Munich
16th October – Forest National, Brussels
17th October – Luxexpo, Luxembourg
19th October – L’Olympia, Paris
20th October – Le Radiant, Lyon
21st October – Le Liberte, Rennes
23rd October – Sant Jordi Club, Barcelona
24th October – Riviera, Madrid
25th October – Campo Pequeno, Lisbon
26th October – Coliseum, Galicia