''Trompe le Monde'' is the fourth studio album by the 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 mainstream or commercial ...

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 aro ...

, released on September 23, 1991 on 4AD in the United Kingdom and on September 24, 1991 on

Elektra Records Elektra Records (or Elektra Entertainment) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, founded in 1950 by Jac Holzman and Paul Rickolt. It played an important role in the development of contemporary folk and rock music between the ...

in the United States. Recorded in

Burbank, California Burbank is a city in the southeastern end of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located northwest of downtown Los Angeles, Burbank has a population of 107,337. The city was named after David Burbank, who ...

, Paris and London, the album was produced by

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 ...

, and was Pixies' final studio album before their subsequent break-up two years later. ''Trompe le Monde'' is the last album to feature founding bass guitarist Kim Deal.

Composition

" Head On" is a cover of the

Jesus and Mary Chain Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

track. It was released as a single and reached number 6 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large adverti ...

Modern Rock Tracks Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks (1988–2009) and Alternative Songs (2009–2020)) is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in ''Billboard'' magazine since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-playe ...

chart in the U.S. "U-Mass" is a song about the

University of Massachusetts Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst, UMass) is a public research university in Amherst, Massachusetts and the sole public land-grant university in Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Founded in 1863 as an agricultural college, ...

, where

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 ...

met

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 ...

before dropping out to form Pixies. In a 2001 interview, Santiago recalled that the original guitar riff was written while they were still enrolled at the school.

Artwork and packaging

The album name comes from the title of the first track, "Trompe le Monde", a French phrase () meaning "Fool the World". Unlike previous albums, the title of the album comes from the name of a song (rather than a song lyric), and is a play on the French phrase "

Trompe-l'œil ''Trompe-l'œil'' ( , ; ) is an artistic term for the highly realistic optical illusion of three-dimensional space and objects on a two-dimensional surface. ''Trompe l'oeil'', which is most often associated with painting, tricks the viewer into ...

", a painting technique in which the painter fools the viewer into thinking objects presented are real. On some versions of the CD, the title is erroneously printed as ''Tromp le Monde'' on the disc itself.

Critical reception

Michael Bonner of ''Lime Lizard'' described ''Trompe le Monde'' as "one of the best albums that you may very well ever hear" and "a strong contender for best album of the 20th century". In a retrospective review,

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Music ...

writer Heather Phares noted the reduced role of Kim Deal, calling it "essentially Black Francis' solo debut". Tom Ewing of ''

Freaky Trigger ''Freaky Trigger'' is an Internet publication and e-zine that focuses on popular culture with topics varying from music to cinema. It was founded by the music critic Tom Ewing in 1999 and features Pete Baran and Mark Sinker as editors. From 2000 ...

'' named ''Trompe le Monde'' his ninth favorite album of the 1990s, describing it as "clean-lined sci-fi popmetal, perpetually underrated."

Track listing

Personnel

Pixies *

– vocals, guitar * Kim Deal – bass guitar, vocals *

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 *

– lead guitar Additional musicians *

Eric Drew Feldman Eric Drew Feldman (born April 16, 1955) is an American musician. Feldman has worked with Captain Beefheart, Fear, Snakefinger, The Residents, Pere Ubu, Pixies, dEUS, Katell Keineg, Frank Black, The Polyphonic Spree, Tripping Daisy, Reid Paley, C ...

– keyboards, synthetics * Jef Feldman –

tabla A tabla, bn, তবলা, prs, طبلا, gu, તબલા, hi, तबला, kn, ತಬಲಾ, ml, തബല, mr, तबला, ne, तबला, or, ତବଲା, ps, طبله, pa, ਤਬਲਾ, ta, தபலா, te, తబల� ...

doumbek The goblet drum (also chalice drum, tarabuka, tarabaki, darbuka, darabuka, derbake, debuka, doumbek, dumbec, dumbeg, dumbelek, toumperleki, tumbak, or zerbaghali; arz, دربوكة / Romanized: ) is a single-head membranophone with a goblet-s ...

("Space (I Believe in)", "Lovely Day") Technical *

– producer * Steven Haigler – engineer * Andrew Ballard – assistant engineer * John McDonnell – assistant engineer * Ken Gardner – assistant engineer * Scott Blockland – assistant engineer * Philipe Tousche – assistant engineer *

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 ...

/ v23 – art direction, design * Chris Bigg – design assistance * Paul McMenamin – design assistance *

Simon Larbalestier Simon Larbalestier (born 1962 in Pembrokeshire) is a Welsh photographer. Larbalestier is noted for his collaborative work with Vaughan Oliver and the design studios 23 Envelope and v23 with whom he has provided photography used on the album artwo ...

– photography *

Steven Appleby Steven Appleby (born 27 January 1956) is an absurdist cartoonist, illustrator and artist living in Britain. She is a dual citizen of the UK and Canada. Her humour has been described as “observational or absurd, with a keen sense of the turmoil ...

– artwork (rockets) * TPP Ltd. London – typesetting

Charts

Certifications and sales

References

* Frank, Josh; Ganz, Caryn. '' Fool the World: The Oral History of a Band Called Pixies''. Virgin Books, 2005. .

External links

* Allmusic: ''Trompe le Monde'' {{Authority control 1991 albums 4AD albums Albums produced by Gil Norton Elektra Records albums Pixies (band) albums