In reality, Indie Cindy is an amalgamation of three earlier extended plays (unoriginally entitled EP1, EP2 and EP3), which means that the majority of the album’s material had already been heard by fans in September 2013, when the first of these extended plays was released.
Nonetheless, Pixie devotees were excited for the release of the album, but unfortunately, it does not differ much from the previously released extended plays, which were underwhelming.
The album does have some redeeming tracks, however. The title track “Indie Cindy” evokes the sounds of the Pixies that fans have come to know over the years, with their talky verses and melodic choruses.
Tracks like “Greens and blues” and “Magdalena 318” are also classic Pixies – especially when considering the disguised callousness in the lyrical content of “Magdalena 318”. Regrettably, these shrewd lyrics do not carry over to tracks like “Another toe in the ocean”. Here, the previously clever lyrics are replaced by all too obvious rhymes in the song’s supposed hook, an uninteresting bridge and a dull melody – making the song an overall disappointment.
A high point on the album is “Andro queen”. Hidden among the record’s final songs, it offers some surprising experimentation with synths and has the potential to be one of the best songs on Indie Cindy, were it not for its passé, science fiction-inspired lyrics.
Where the album’s opener “What goes boom” starts out as loudly and energetically as one would expect from the Pixies, the closing track “Jaime Bravo” is slightly more relaxed, albeit rather trite and bland, ending the album on an unsatisfactory note.
Even though Indie Cindy is not a disappointment altogether, it cannot compare to the quality of earlier Pixies albums and the majority of the tracks leave much to be desired, but Indie Cindy does contain some diamonds in the rough that should definitely not be overlooked or underestimated.
Fans are used to much better material from the Pixies, and perhaps only the hardiest of Pixies enthusiasts might be willing to give the record a second chance.
Image: The Pixies’s Facebook page
