EP2 (Pixies EP)

EP2
EP by Pixies
Released January 3, 2014 (2014-01-03)
Recorded 2013
Genre Alternative rock, indie rock
Length 14:10
Language English
Producer Gil Norton
Pixies chronology
EP1
(2013)		 EP2
(2014)		 EP3
(2014)

EP2[1] is the second EP in a series of EPs released by American alternative rock band Pixies, released on January 3, 2014.[2]

Composition and recording

Black Francis 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!"[3]

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."[4]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic54/100 [5]
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[6]
Consequence of SoundC-[7]
Drowned in Sound7/10[8]
Mojo[9]
NME8/10[10]
Pitchfork2.0/10[11]
Popmatters[12]
Punknews[13]
Rolling Stone[14]
Sputnikmusic2.8/5[15]

Like EP1, EP2 received mixed reviews and was sometimes compared unfavorably to the band's earlier work. In a 2.0/10 review for Pitchfork, 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 "[Black Francis] screams like a Brian Johnson 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."[11] John Dolan from Rolling Stone wrote that EP2 "feels like a faint echo of the band's later albums".[14]

Mark Beaumont at NME gave the EP a positive review, writing that the four tracks "eschew any attempt to recreate the breathless brutalities of Doolittle or Surfer Rosa 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".[10] Marc Burrows' review for Drowned in Sound was also generally positive, noting "what constitutes feeling their way back for the Pixies would be mightily impressive for a lesser band".[8]

Track listing

  1. "Blue Eyed Hexe" – 3:12
  2. "Magdalena" – 3:25
  3. "Greens and Blues" – 3:47
  4. "Snakes" – 3:46

Personnel

Pixies
Additional personnel

References

  1. ↑ Discogs - Pixies - EP2 Images
  2. ↑ "Pixies release surprise 'EP2' – listen". Retrieved 9 January 2014.
  3. ↑ "EP-2 - Track by Track". Retrieved 9 January 2014.
  4. ↑ "Pixies' new release EP-2 oozes Blue-Eyed Hexe appeal". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 January 2014.
  5. ↑ "Critical Reviews for Pixies - EP2". Metacritic. Retrieved 25 July 2014.
  6. ↑ Phares, Heather. "EP2 - Pixies". Allmusic. Retrieved 5 September 2017.
  7. ↑ Arroyo, Steven (13 January 2014). "Pixies – EP-1 and EP-2". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved 5 September 2017.
  8. 1 2 Burrows, Marc (7 January 2014). "Pixies: EP2". Drowned in Sound. Retrieved 19 January 2014.
  9. ↑ "Pixies: EP-2 Review". Mojo: 96. March 2014.
  10. 1 2 Horner, Al (3 January 2014). "Pixies – 'EP2'". NME. Retrieved 5 September 2017.
  11. 1 2 Greene, Jayson (10 January 2014). "Pixies: EP-2". Pitchfork. Retrieved 5 September 2017.
  12. ↑ Tryneski, John M. (16 March 2014). "Pixies: EP2". Popmatters. Retrieved 5 September 2017.
  13. ↑ Greg (Staff) (26 January 2014). "Pixies: EP2 (2014): SELF-RELEASED". Punknews.org. Retrieved 5 September 2017.
  14. 1 2 Dolan, Jon (14 January 2014). "Pixies: EP 2". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 5 September 2017.
  15. ↑ Joseph Viney (3 January 2014). "Pixies - EP2". Sputnikmusic. Retrieved 5 September 2017.
  16. ↑ "PIXIES RELEASE SECOND EP OF NEW MATERIAL". Retrieved 9 January 2014.
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