Between 1987 and 1993, Pixies released four records and one EP that changed indie music. Between 1993 and the present, Pixies singer Black Francis (aka Frank Black, formerly Charles Thompson, now Black Francis again) has released over a dozen discs under various names and with various collaborators-- some more noteworthy than others, but none changing much of anything. Indeed, changing things hasn't seemed to be part of his agenda-- if not with his first band, then certainly not since, as his solo releases and side projects tend to look more to the past for inspiration than to the future.
Not even the celebrated Pixies comeback could slow his prolific pace. In fact, he's practically doubled his output since the group reunited in the spring of '04. In February, he released a five-disc box set and book for his score to the 1920 silent film The Golem. And now, two short months later, we have NonStopErotik. Like so many of his other releases, the album was recorded quickly and ad hoc with frequent co-conspirator/producer Eric Drew Feldman. And while it won't make you forget the Pixies, some of it seems specifically designed to bring them to mind.
Perhaps logically, Black Francis seems to have no qualms connecting his current output with his formative work. "Six Legged Man" feels like it comes from the same place as Trompe Le Monde, and the dreamy déjà vu gait of "O My Tidy Sum" hits a similarly comforting sweet spot (drum machine, electric piano and fake strings or no). In fact, from "Dead Man's Curve" to "Lake of Sin" to the not-quite-as-icky-as-you-might-expect "When I Go Down On You", few songwriters are as adept at deviously slipping as many changes into relatively concise songs without calling attention to their tricks. It's a stealth trademark: instantly recognizable when you hear it but harder than you think to replicate.
Yet even when Black plays it straight, the results still sometimes skew. If the younger Black Francis might have transformed a cover of the Flying Burrito Brothers' "Wheels" into a cool surf epic [#script:http://pitchfork.com/media/backend/js/tiny_mce/themes/advanced/langs/en.js]|||||| rather than a Velvet Underground-inspired reconstruction, the elder delivers an intriguing mix of vitality and cool detachment. It's easy to take those seemingly at-odds qualities for granted, but here Black Francis sounds not just comfortable with that aesthetic but surprisingly and paradoxically in control of it as well.
