''Indie Cindy'' is the fifth studio album by the American

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

band the Pixies. Released in April 2014, it was the band's first album since 1991's ''

Trompe le Monde ''Trompe le Monde'' is the fourth studio album by the American alternative rock band Pixies (band), Pixies, released on September 23, 1991 on 4AD in the United Kingdom and on September 24, 1991, on Elektra Records in the United States. Recorded ...

'', and the first Pixies album not to feature

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

player

Kim Deal Kimberley Ann Deal (born June 10, 1961) is an American musician. She was the original bassist and co-vocalist in the alternative rock band the Pixies (band), Pixies from 1986 to 1993 and again from 2004 to 2013. She is the frontwoman of the Bre ...

. Instead, bass guitar duties on the album are handled by Simon "Ding" Archer, a former member of the British post-punk band The Fall. The album combines all the songs from the band's 2013–14

extended play An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...

releases—'' EP1'', '' EP2'', and '' EP3''—which were recorded and produced in 2012 by

Gil Norton Gil Norton (born in Liverpool) is an English record producer known for his work with alternative rock bands such as Pixies, Echo & the Bunnymen, Foo Fighters, Tribe, Jimmy Eat World, Dashboard Confessional, Feeder, the Distillers, Maxïm ...

, who produced the band's previous albums '' Doolittle'', '' Bossanova'', and ''

''. Limited numbers of vinyl copies of the album were released on

Record Store Day Record Store Day is a semi-annual event established in 2008 to "celebrate the culture of the independently owned record store". Held on one Saturday (typically the third) every April and every Black Friday in November, the day brings together f ...

2014 (double album but pressed at 45 rpm), 10 days prior to the album's full release. These copies came with a single-sided 7" single of "Women of War". The album was released in North America on April 29, 2014 as a digital download, digipak CD and 2LP vinyl as well as a deluxe edition on CD or vinyl which included a live CD and a 40-page hardback book.

Commercial performance

The album peaked at number 23 on the US ''Billboard'' 200, making it the band's most successful album on that chart. In 2016 it was awarded a gold certification from the

Independent Music Companies Association The Independent Music Companies Association (IMPALA), originally the Independent Music Publishers and Labels Association, is a non-profit trade association established in 2000 to help European independent record labels represent their agenda a ...

which indicated sales of at least 75,000 copies throughout Europe. As of 2015, sales in the United States have exceeded 34,000 copies, according to

Nielsen SoundScan Luminate Data, LLC (formerly MRC Data and P-MRC Data) is a provider of music and entertainment data. Established as a joint-venture in 2020, it brought together Nielsen Music, Alpha Data (formerly BuzzAngle Music) and Variety Business Intellige ...

Critical reception

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, which assigns a

weighted mean The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...

rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, ''Indie Cindy'' received an average score of 62 based on 32 reviews; this indicates "generally favorable reviews".

Track listing

All songs written by Black Francis, except where noted.

Personnel

Pixies *

Black Francis Charles Michael Kittridge Thompson IV (born April 6, 1965), better known by the stage name Black Francis, is an American singer, guitarist, and songwriter. He is the frontman of the alternative rock band Pixies. Following the band's break ...

– vocals, guitar, backing vocals on "Bagboy" * Ding (Simon "Ding" Archer) – bass guitar *

David Lovering David Sullivan Lovering (born December 6, 1961) is an American musician and magician. He is best known as the drummer for the alternative rock band Pixies, which he joined in 1986. After the band's breakup in 1993, Lovering drummed with severa ...

– drums, backing vocals on "Women of War" and "Bagboy" *

Joey Santiago Joseph Alberto Santiago (born June 10, 1965) is a Filipino-American guitarist and composer. Active since 1986, Santiago is best known as the co-founder and lead guitarist of the alternative rock band Pixies. After the band's breakup in 1993, ...

– lead guitar Additional musicians *

Paz Lenchantin Paz Lenchantin (born December 12, 1973) is an Argentine-American musician. She is best known for having been the bass guitarist and backing vocalist of the alternative rock band Pixies (band), Pixies, playing with the band and recording three stu ...

– bass guitar and backing vocals on deluxe edition tracks and "Women of War" *Jeremy Dubs – backing vocals Technical personnel *

– production,

engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

, mixing *Justin Pizzoferrato – additional engineering (Sonelab]) *Mike Stitsinger – additional engineering (The Autumn Den) *Dan Austin – mixing *Miles Wilson – mixing (live tracks) *

Vaughan Oliver Vaughan Oliver (12 September 1957 – 29 December 2019) was a British graphic designer based in Epsom, Surrey. Oliver was best known for his work with graphic design studios 23 Envelope and v23. Both studios maintained a close relationship wit ...

– art direction, design *Michael Speed – design assistance, xp illustration *Ian Pollock – character illustration

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2014 albums Albums produced by Gil Norton Pixies (band) albums PIAS Recordings albums Record Store Day releases Albums recorded at Rockfield Studios