The re-formed Pixies of 2016 are a very different proposition to the manic, caterwauling outfit that burst forth in the late 1980s. Not only has the personnel altered significantly – bassist Kim Deal left the band in 2013, and her replacement Kim Shattuck was fired later that year – but there seems to have been a shift in outlook as well: in their latterday output they have seemed either unwilling or unable to summon up the sort of oddball energy that made them such a bewildering and brilliant prospect in the first place. Head Carrier continues down the cul-de-sac first entered on 2014’s lukewarm Indie Cindy, largely comprising chugging, artless alt rock. There are a few moments of electricity: Baals Back makes good use of Frank Black’s agonised howl, while the frazzled surf rock of Oona could slot nicely on to Doolittle. At its worst, though, Head Carrier sounds like an act of self-plagiarism: All I Think About Now – a belated thank you from Black to Deal – could have been an album highlight, but it’s let down badly by its riff, which is almost a note-for-note rehash of Where Is My Mind.
