Pixies – EP2

When EP1 landed in September of 2013, ostensibly Pixies' first real release in 20 years and their only without Kim Deal on board, some reviewers pounced on the opportunity to make a name for themselves, berating it, apparently on the basis that it simply wasn't Surfer Rosa. That Bagboy and Indie Cindy are as good as much of the group's historic output was completely ignored in favour of snide point-scoring.

 

With EP2 the opportunity to redress that balance and laud the band's new material is sadly denied. Though Blue Eyed Hexe makes a brave, if unspectacular, fist of choppy riffage and ramped vocal snarls, Magdalena and Greens and Blues stray into Frank Black b-side territory before Snakes restores some pride with a healthy dose of melody in the chorus.