24. Pixies - "Doggerel"

And welcome to the annual entry that comes from an elder statesman that we had all written off. Everyone loves The Pixies but let’s admit it, nobody expected them to still actually be capable of making not just a decent record but a career highlight. They seemed to have fallen into a nostalgic groove of playing previous albums in their entirety or simply just trading on their vast back catalogue. People of my age still flock to see The Pixies because they are The Pixies and they did what they did in the late 80s. To be honest nobody is interested in a new Pixies album.

But The Pixies have always been about bucking the trend and doing what is least expected of them. So here they come with an album that is more than capable of holding its own against the four magnificent records that they made over 30 years ago. “Doggerel” does what The Pixies did best which is to sound like a Pixies album but also sound nothing like the previous records. 

This is not a nostalgic retread of a previous path, this is firmly a Pixies album made in the 21st century. It acknowledges the passing years and gleefully, and magpie-like steals from the many acts that are tried to emulate them over the years.

It’s a happy and positive record that revels in the joy of being alive. Distorted pop that manages to be simultaneously smooth but also in possession of unseen jagged edges. This is The Pixies doing off-kilter indie and they do it wonderfully. It’s full of singalong anthems but with just the right dosage of acidity and coarseness. 

Maybe if they had produced this record when they first returned in the early noughties, they would still be capable of headlining Reading and Leeds festival. But frankly, that doesn’t actually matter. All that’s important is that The Pixies have once again proven that he should never ever write them off.