Pixies release new album Doggerel
Pixies’ reputation as alt-rock trailblazers has been reignited in recent months. Their singles “Dregs of the Wine,” “There’s A Moon On,” and “Vault of Heaven” have reconnected with long-standing fans and inspired newcomers too, a blend reiterated by a series of outdoor headline shows as well as a huge Hyde Park gig as guests to Pearl Jam. Pixies release their new album, Doggerel, their first studio set since 2019’s Beneath The Eyrie.
In addition to the recent singles, Doggerel is full of new material which lives up to their iconic status. It’s 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.
Produced by Tom Dalgety (Royal Blood, Ghost), Doggerel represents an evolution for Pixies, one that you wouldn’t always associate with a band deep into a storied career. Their famously off-kilter streak is still present, but it’s channeled into songs which are bigger, more orchestrated, and in some aspects, a little more direct. Black Francis’s lyrics have also altered, his surrealist phrasing playing upon myths, legends, pop culture, and a little nostalgia.
A congregation between darkness and beauty consistently emerges throughout the record. Opener and new focus track “Nomatterday” sets the tone, lurching and grinding with an ominous intensity before unfolding into a breezy, power-pop rush. The ’50s-tinged “Haunted House” is possessed by the spirit of ghosts both literal and metaphoric, while “The Lord Has Come Back” will be familiar to fans who have attended Pixies’ recent shows. Later on, beguiling folk-rock melodies propel “Pagan Man,” and then “Who’s More Sorry Now?” asks questions about recriminations while carrying elements that recall guitarist Joey Santiago’s admiration for Ennio Morricone.
Santiago recently had his first Pixies songwriting credit for “Dregs of the Wine,” while his second follows with the album’s title track (both alongside Francis). Loosely styled and irregular in measure, it’s a slow-burning song that is Doggerel both in name and nature.
Track list:
- Nomatterday
- Vault of Heaven
- Dregs of the Wine
- Haunted House
- Get Simulated
- The Lord Has Come Back Today
- Thunder & Lightning
- There’s A Moon On
- Pagan Man
- Who’s More Sorry Now?
- You’re Such A Sadducee
- Doggerel
Doggerel is available here.
