Pixies – Bossanova (1990)

It took me several years to really get into Pixies. I was always drawn to their sounds that reminded me of the bands that I listened to in the early 90's, such as Guns n' Roses, but Pixies had a much more experimental approach to their music and I think it was more difficult to really get into the melodies. Then, something happened a few years ago. I had already started really liking Sonic Youth, which was another band from the same era that took me a long time to get into. Then I heard that Pixies is going to headline Field Day in London with their brand new album just being released. I started preparing for the gig by listening to their music and I suddenly realised that I really really liked it. The concert itself was really amazing and after that I've been even more into Pixies. Quite soon after I bought Doolittle and Bossanova, which are my favourite albums by them.


Doolittle I bought on vinyl, but it just felt right to buy Bossanova on a CD because it was released in 1990 when CDs were already becoming more regular. Bossanova is a word play. It doesn't have anything to do with the musical style bossanova, but since this albums is mainly about outer space, they came up with a name Bossanova, that is similar word to things such as supernova. The styles on this album are really varied. There's everything from hard rock to punk, from surf rock to space rock and from 80's alternative rock to pop. It's a bit more approachable than the debut album Surfer Rosa, but probably slightly more experimental than the hit album Doolittle.

The album begins with the amazing space surf-rock song Cecilia Ann. This instrumental song is like a copy of early 60's surf rock song but played with rough 80's alternative rock sounds. The next song, aptly named Rock Music is almost like heavy metal and the vocals are sung in a growl style. I don't normally like this kind of style, but when it's done by non-metal bands such as Pixies or Queens of the Stone Ages, I actually really like that. But one song of that is enough. Next up is the album's biggest hit Velouria. This song has a fantastically catchy chorus and the distorted guitar sounds are just amazingly cool. Allison is like a glimpse into the age of skate punk that was about to conquer the world a couple of years later. Is She Weird is really a weird song. It's the kind of song that is really typical of Pixies. It follows the normal rules of pop music, but at the same time, the riffs and melodies are so delightfully strange that it takes a while to know what to think about it. Ana is another space surf-rock song. It's a bit slower and even has whispery vocals. The guitar sounds are amazing. All Over the World was also somewhat of a hit. The simplistic, yet rhythmic verse is quiet compared to explosive chorus that gives it a bit more power. This is like pre-grunge. Dig for Fire is one of the most challenging songs on the album to get into, because the melodies are a bit off-key. Down to the Well reminds me of some post-hardcore bands of the late 90's, such as Sunny Day Real Estate. The Happening represents the more rhythmic and heavier side of Pixies, but the chorus is still light and sunny. Blown Away is one of my favourite tracks from this album. The melodic bass lines and guitar riffs along with echoey vocals make this song quite otherworldly. Hang Wire has some fantastic screaming vocals. As a song it reminds me of some early Smashing Pumpkins songs. Stormy Weather is like a drunken singalong in a local pub spiced up by screeching electric guitars. The album ends with Havalina that has some very nice sounding clear electric guitars.

This is a 90's album, so of course there are some music videos. PIxies music videos are not that great to be honest. For example, the music video for Velouria is just a video of the band members running in slow motion over some rocks. It's nevertheless a part of rock music history. Bands had to have music videos, even if the videos were just the band doing something crazy without any kind of storyline or artistic input.

It's funny how sometimes you remember a time when you wouldn't really like a band or a song or types of sounds before, but then suddenly you find that your mind has changed and now it all sounds just amazing. This is what happened to me with Pixies. I've known them most of my life, but I've only understood their brilliance in the last few years.

Listen to the album on Spotify.