by Isobel Foxon
2026 brings the return of the Pixies’ iconic Bossanova album, now fine-tuned and polished with a wonderful remaster. An alt-rock band so profound that even Kurt Cobain admitted to trying to rip them off, the Pixies excel in their genre. The Bossanova album has been sometimes referred to by critics as their downturning point, yet even with this assumption it is still a wholly decent sci-fi surf album. Characterized by crashing guitars and salty riffs, the Pixies elevate these tracks to outer space with Black Francis’ haunting vocals and seemingly nonsensical lyrics, creating the dysfunctional rock sound that the band have become so notorious for.
Bossanova opens with a slick guitar instrumental - their cover of The Surftone’s “Cecilia Ann’” now tidied slightly. It charges up the album with a powerful, captivating rhythm like horses galloping, the melody echoing an electric version of a Western motif. The album maintains this high energy across much of the first half with the explosive “Rock Music” and the forever-memorable “Velouria” - arguably the most famous track on the album. Now cleaned up in the remaster, Francis’ vocals in the initial verse hover almost silkily over the instrumental and we can hear the iconic song in all its glory. Bossanova is mainly an album full of growling guitar and bass, which appear with full gusto in “Down the Well” - a headbanger with shrieking vocals for anyone who needs to scratch that particular Pixies itch. “The Happening,” the pinnacle of Bossanova’s sci-fi rock theme, is where the combination of Francis’ whining high notes and the engine-like bass create the effect of space travel.
Often the album sprays like fireworks into a multitude of different directions. “Is She Weird” leans more towards goth rock, with the creeping bass evermore prominent and Francis’ strange, tortured lyrics creating a darker track than what most of the album offers. “Ana” is sonic whiplash of another kind; lilting vocals and gentle guitar melodies that transport the listener out of the seedy indie bar Bossanova has been encompassing so far. Listening to “Ana” is like a breath of fresh air; it feels to be an uplifting and distinctively summery song. Bossanova’s strength is in its experimental tracks and its diversity; although the album doesn’t always feel coherent, it does succeed at transporting the listener between genres of rock. Perhaps this element of the album polarises listeners, but one could argue that the unpredictable rollercoaster-effect of changing genres makes it exciting.
The album tails off near the end, where this excitement fades into three slightly generic rock songs (“Blown Away,” “Hang Wire” and “Stormy Weather”), but is saved by the original album’s final track “Havalina”. Francis ditches the tired guitar riffs for something more mysterious; simple but dreamy vocals echoing “havalina” for the majority of the song in a lullaby-like, nostalgic ending piece. However, where the 1990 version ends, the 2026 Bossanova has not quite finished. In this remaster we are gifted two bonus tracks. The first is “Go Man Go,” recorded by Francis and Kim Deal before Deal left for The Breeders and subsequently released her own version of the song. The Pixies’ version is beautifully sad, and, following Deal’s noticeable lack of vocals on Bossanova as she had been busy with The Breeders by then, would have created a perfect poetic ending to the remastered album.
However the final track of Bossonova (2026 Remaster) is a version of “Dig For Fire” featuring Steve Albini. It’s a well-meant tribute towards their Surfer Rosa days, but perhaps the wrong song to end the remaster on - it doesn’t feel definite, and instead the album feels like there should be more songs to come. Despite its flaws, Bossanova is still an undisputedly iconic album to come from the Pixies. It’s noisy, it rocks, it’s weird. It knows it’s eccentric and thrives on it. In fact, Bossonova’s weakness lies in the tracks that become too monotonous. The remaster of this album allows us to hear these tracks at their peak chaos while bringing us a beautiful new edition of “Go Man Go”.