With
Beneath the Eyrie
and
Doggerel
,
Pixies
carried on their tradition of sharply drawn weirdness in a gentler vein that felt true to who they were three decades after forming. It's a mood they continue on
The Night the Zombies Came
, a set of songs spooky and surreal enough to live up to its title. As on their previous two albums,
cleverly remake classic pop, country, and folk in their own image; on the early highlight "Primrose," they pair bucolic strumming with an encroaching "darkness over the land." By uncovering shadowy and strange doings in unlikely places,
Charles Thompson
delivers some of his most engaging storytelling in some time. "You're So Impatient"'s surging punk spins a yarn about medieval restaurants and other suburban dystopias, while "Johnny Good Man" offers a Twilight Zone-worthy tale of a gunslinger reborn in a cornfield.
Joey Santiago
's solos remain the soul of the band's music, and his needling playing gives an extra kick to "Oyster Beds"' cryptic, shouty, quintessentially
punk and to "Motoroller," a barreling meditation on mortality that makes the most of new bassist
Emma Richardson
's harmonies. Considering that
Richardson
added her parts after the band recorded most of the album, she fits in remarkably well, going toe to toe with
Thompson
on the
X
-ish stomp of "Ernest Evans" and chiming in on "Kings of the Prairie," a fine example of the sweetness that's been more apparent in
' later years. Nevertheless,
is at its best when the band leans into the drama that has always made them stand out from the crowd. "Chicken" is one such moment, a sidewinding mood piece that swings between pride and desperation as wildly as
Santiago
's twanging, squalling fretwork. However, the album's brightest gem is "Jane (The Night the Zombies Came)." The tale of a disappearing man and a woman who's equal parts femme fatale and final girl, it's cloaked in glorious Wall of Sound production that makes it a queasily thrilling stunner. Songs like these uphold
' brash, eccentric, oddly moving legacy brilliantly, and as a whole,
ranks among their finest post-reunion music. ~ Heather Phares