''Head Carrier'' is the sixth studio album by the American alternative rock band the Pixies, released on September 30, 2016 on Pixiesmusic and

PIAS PIAS or Pias may refer to: * PIAS Group, a UK music company ** PIAS Recordings (Play It Again Sam), an independent record label based in London and owned by the PIAS Entertainment Group * PIAS Group, a Japanese cosmetic company * Protein inhibitor ...

. Produced by Tom Dalgety, and recorded at RAK Studios in London, the album is the first to feature new band member

Paz Lenchantin Paz Lenchantin (born December 12, 1973) is an Argentine-American musician. She has been the bass guitarist of the alternative rock band Pixies since 2014. She also played bass or strings with various bands, including Entrance, A Perfect Circle, ...

on bass guitar, who joined the band in 2014 to tour in support of its previous album, ''

Indie Cindy ''Indie Cindy'' is the fifth studio album by the American alternative rock band the Pixies. Released in April 2014, it was the band's first album since 1991's '' Trompe le Monde'', and the first Pixies album not to feature bass guitar player Kim D ...

''. The album's title references a cephalophore, a

saint In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of Q-D-Š, holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and Christian denomination, denominat ...

carrying his own head, more specifically St. Denis of Paris.

Background

Production started around late 2015 after finding a new producer, Tom Dalgety (replacing previous producer Gil Norton, who had worked on the Pixies last four albums). The band met with him as they were recording demos for the followup of their 2014 album ''

''. Previously they had debuted a number of songs live that they were testing as potential tracks for their next album. Such tracks included "Super Lecker", "O' Little Cloud", and "Down to Tulom". This album marks the first full appearance of bassist

(former

A Perfect Circle A Perfect Circle is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1999 by guitarist Billy Howerdel and Tool vocalist Maynard James Keenan. A Perfect Circle has released four studio albums, the first three during the early 2000s: ' ...

and Zwan), after replacing previous bassist Kim Deal, who left the band in 2013. Lenchantin had previously been featured on the bonus track "Women of War" (a vinyl bonus track off of ''Indie Cindy''), as well as live tracks for the deluxe edition of the same album. Lenchantin had previously been the touring bassist, but was promoted to full-time member starting with this album. She also has a writing credit and lead vocals for the song "All I Think About Now", which was written about Kim Deal and takes on the form of a thank-you letter. The album was officially announced on July 6, 2016 with the release of its first single "Um Chagga Lagga". This was followed up by a second single, "Talent", on August 17, 2016. The whole album was streamed on NPR starting on September 22, 2016.

Track listing

Personnel

Credits adapted from the album's liner notes.Pixies: Head Carrier
. Discogs.com. Retrieved on August 17, 2020. *

Black Francis Charles Michael Kittridge Thompson IV (born April 6, 1965) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He is best known as the frontman of the alternative rock band Pixies, with whom he performs under the stage name Black Francis. Fo ...

– lead vocals, guitar * Joey Santiago – lead guitar *

– bass guitar, backing vocals, lead vocals on "All I Think About Now" * David Lovering – drums ;Technical * Tom Dalgety – production, engineering, mixing *Rob Brinkman – engineering assistant * Vaughan Oliver – art direction, design *Joshua Price – design assistance *Ian Pollock – illustrations

Charts

Year-end charts

References

{{Authority control 2016 albums Pixies (band) albums PIAS Recordings albums Albums produced by Tom Dalgety