The album starts with the promising opening track “In the Arms of Mrs. Mark of Cain”. It has a spooky guitar riff letting the listener know this is going to be a much more gothic album.
The Pixies are a band that I wish I had listened to earlier. I had heard their most popular song “Where Is My Mind” before and I liked it, but I never looked too much more into them.
I decided to change that last year by listening to their album Doolittle and loved how dirty they sounded. There was something so raw about the stripped back guitar and unconventional vocals that made the Pixies familiar, but also unique to other bands I listened to.
When I listened to their first album Surfer Rosa my love for the Pixies only grew. It was one of the ugliest things I’d heard and the cryptic lyrics only made it more interesting.
So when I put their new album Beneath the Eyrie on I was optimistic. I expected something new that still sounded like the Pixies. Instead, what I got was essentially a dumbed-down overproduced version of the Pixies.
The album starts with the promising opening track “In the Arms of Mrs. Mark of Cain”. It has a spooky guitar riff letting the listener know this is going to be a much more gothic album.
After this, the album continues with the same gothic sound, but without the dirt and grime that helps make the Pixies so distinct. The album feels boring and empty.
What makes it more disappointing is that underneath the shiny exterior of all of these forgettable songs is something great. Black Francis still has his talent for songwriting, but this album is just missing the distinctness of the Pixies. It still has the cryptic lyrics but the gothic and much more produced sound really turns the album into another forgettable rock album.
I’d say you can listen to this one if you really want to hear the new album, but it certainly isn’t necessary. Maybe if you aren’t a fan of the Pixies ugly sound you’d enjoy it, but it certainly isn’t what I want from the Pixies.
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