Pixies Prep New Album ‘Head Carrier,’ Drop First Single ‘Um Chagga Lagga’
Pixies have announced their new album Head Carrier, the band’s first LP since 2014’s Indie Cindy, will arrive in September. Black Francis and company also unveiled the album’s raging first single “Um Chagga Lugga,” a slice of trademark surf punk from the alt-rock legends.
For Head Carrier, Pixies spent six weeks writing, arranging and rehearsing the album’s tracks before settling into London’s Rak Studios in February to record the Tom Dalgety-produced album.
“This was a wonderful luxury, for us to have the time to be able to really work these new songs out,” Pixies drummer David Lovering said in a statement. “By the time we started recording, we all knew the songs backwards and forwards, so it took half as long for us to make this album as it did to make Indie Cindy.”
Head Carrier marks Pixies’ first album with bassist Paz Lenchantin, who joined the band as their touring bassist in January 2014 after Kim Deal’s departure and was recently named a permanent member. Lenchantin also contributes vocals to “All I Think About Now,” a track she co-wrote with Francis.
“I was very nervous in the beginning when I went to that first rehearsal,” Lenchantin said in a statement. “There were these shoes I felt I had to fill and I tried to do the best I could for the fans, to make the live performances sound true to the originals. I spent three years learning to understand what being a Pixie meant, and now, my heart, spirit, and love for their music is embedded in me and I feel like I have become a Pixie. We had been more about the history of the Pixies, but now, we are about going forward.”
Lovering added of the bassist, “Paz is a joy to be around. She’s very funny, and we’re having more fun than we’ve ever had as a band, we all have a blast together, on and off stage.”
Head Carrier, due out September 30th, will be released in a variety of formats and bundles, including a special limited edition deluxe box set that includes the CD, 180-gram black vinyl, 24-page booklet with the song’s lyrics, a T-shirt and artist and longtime collaborator Vaughan Oliver’s original artwork for the album. Check out the Pixies’ store for all bundle options.
In support of their new album, Pixies will embark on a European tour in November, the first leg of what’s promised as a global jaunt that will extend into 2017.
Last year, the group stopped by Rolling Stone to perform the then-unreleased track.
Head Carrier Track List
1. “Head Carrier”
2. “Classic Masher”
3. “Baal’s Back”
4. “Might As Well Be Gone”
5. “Oona”
6. “Talent”
7. “Tenement Song”
8. “Bel Esprit”
9. “All I Think About Now”
10. “Um Chagga Lagga”
11. “Plaster Of Paris”
12. “All The Saints”