Pixies
Bossanova

THE REVIEW

I have always imagined the Pixies - "Folletti" - as true elves torn from their world and thrust into this other one not exactly of their own volition. It might be the voices, their schizophrenic, neurotic music, or perhaps I was influenced by their name, but every time I listen to them, I see these 4 little guys completely crazy in front of me, captivating you with their music.

"Come on Pilgrim", "Surfer Rosa", "Doolittle" told us about their out-of-mind neuroses, and often it seemed like they were tearing each other apart in the studio, given the amount of screams and distorted and seemingly incoherent sounds present; in this "Bossanova" the 4 elves seem "slowed down," and the atmosphere they immerse themselves in changes.

We find indeed dreamlike tracks ("The Happening", "Ana", "Velouria", the concluding "Havalina"), disorienting ("Is she weird", "Down to the well", "All over the world" with a lysergic finale) and pop-rock ("Dig for fire") without giving up their skewed, hysterical, distorted, neurotic, angry, cathartic battle cries ("Rock music", "Hang wire", the initial instrumental "Cecilia Ann"), even though here they often sound funny, ironic, and more relaxed compared to the past, creating that particular atmosphere typical of this album ("Stormy weather" which starts incredibly "slowed down," just to explode in the second part).

The elves deliver an overall more refined album, enriching it with new shades and sounds compared to earlier works. The subsequent and final "Trompe le monde" will bring them back to their usual hysterical and grotesque style; somehow, however, "filtered" and influenced by the great insights present here.

Pixies' early records are often exclusively cited: nothing could be more wrong, because "Bossanova" and "Trompe le monde" are equally (if not more) valid.