''EP2'' is the second EP in a series of EPs released by American
alternative rock
Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...
band
Pixies
A pixie (also pisky, pixy, pixi, pizkie, and piskie in Cornwall and Devon, and pigsie or puggsy in the New Forest) is a mythical creature of British folklore. Pixies are considered to be particularly concentrated in the high moorland areas arou ...
, released on January 3, 2014.
Composition and recording
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 ...
described his inspiration for the song "Blue Eyed Hexe": "The song took on different forms, different music and different sets of lyrics. It went through a lot of changes before it settled where it is now. It's a tale from the northwest of the country and it's a witch-woman kind of a song. That's what a hexe is. And she's a blue-eyed hexe!"
Black Francis wrote "Greens and Blues" with the intention of creating "a better '
Gigantic'" – something that would "musically, emotionally and psychologically – sit in the same place that Gigantic has sat" and serve as a "show-closer."
Critical reception
Like ''EP1'', ''EP2'' received mostly negative reviews and was sometimes compared unfavorably to the band's earlier work. In a 2.0/10 review for
Pitchfork
A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves.
The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to th ...
, Jayson Greene described the two EPs as "an increasingly mournful asterisk affixed to a beloved legacy". Greene gave modest praise to "Magdalena" which he wrote "sounds, passingly, like a lesser track from ''
Bossanova'' or ''
Teenager of the Year''", but panned "Blue Eyed Hexe", writing "
lack Francisscreams like a
Brian Johnson
Brian Johnson (born 5 October 1947) is an English singer and songwriter. In 1980, after the death of Bon Scott, he became the third lead singer of the Australian rock band AC/DC. He and the rest of the band were inducted into the Rock and Rol ...
imitator over a foursquare riff with no wit or play in it, the clonking woodblock hitting like a kid brother socking you repeatedly in the arm."
[ John Dolan from '']Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'' wrote that ''EP2'' "feels like a faint echo of the band's later albums".[
Mark Beaumont at '']NME
''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...
'' gave the EP a positive review, writing that the four tracks "eschew any attempt to recreate the breathless brutalities of '' Doolittle'' or ''Surfer Rosa
''Surfer Rosa'' is the debut studio album by the American alternative rock band Pixies, released in March 1988 on the British label 4AD. It was produced by Steve Albini. ''Surfer Rosa'' contains many of the elements of Pixies' earlier output, inc ...
'' and instead move Pixies boldly on". Beaumont praised "Blue Eyed Hexe" for recreating "the menace of Pixies’ early work" and described "Greens and Blues" as "the most grab-at-the-sky Big Pop moment the new EPs have produced so far".[ Marc Burrows' review for ]Drowned in Sound
''Drowned in Sound'', sometimes abbreviated to ''DiS'', is a UK-based music webzine financed by artist management company Silentway. Founded by editor Sean Adams, the site features reviews, news, interviews, and discussion forums.
History
''D ...
was also generally positive, noting "what constitutes feeling their way back for the Pixies would be mightily impressive for a lesser band".[
]
Track listing
#"Blue Eyed Hexe" – 3:12
#"Magdalena 318" – 3:25
#"Greens and Blues" – 3:47
#"Snakes" – 3:46
Personnel
;Pixies
*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 ...
– vocals, guitar
*David Lovering
David Lovering (born December 6, 1961) is an American musician and magician. He is best known as the drummer for the alternative rock band Pixies, which he joined in 1986. After the band's breakup in 1993, Lovering drummed with several other act ...
– drums
*Joey Santiago
Joseph Alberto Santiago (born June 10, 1965) is a Filipino-American guitarist and composer. Active since 1986, Santiago is best known as the lead guitarist for the American alternative rock band Pixies. After the band's breakup in 1993, Santiag ...
– guitar
;Additional personnel
*Ding (Simon "Ding" Archer) – bass guitar
*Gil Norton
Gil Norton (born in Liverpool) is an English record producer known for his work with alternative rock bands such as Pixies, Echo & the Bunnymen, Foo Fighters, Tribe, Jimmy Eat World, Dashboard Confessional, Feeder, The Distillers, Maxïmo Par ...
– production
Production may refer to:
Economics and business
* Production (economics)
* Production, the act of manufacturing goods
* Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services)
* Production as a stati ...
*Vaughan Oliver
Vaughan Oliver (12 September 1957 – 29 December 2019) was a British graphic designer based in Epsom, Surrey. Oliver was best known for his work with graphic design studios 23 Envelope and v23. Both studios maintained a close relationship with ...
– art
Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas.
There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...
work
References
External links
* Official music videos:
*
Blue Eyed Hexe
*
Magdalena
*
Greens and Blues
*
Snakes
{{Authority control
Pixies (band) EPs
2014 EPs
Self-released EPs