Pixies return with anthemic new single Human Crime

Joey Santiago, Black Francis, David Lovering and Paz Lenchantin of Pixies perform on stage at Usher Hall on September 23, 2019 in Edinburgh, Scotland.
(Image credit: Roberto Ricciuti/Redferns)

Alt-rock icons Pixies have unveiled Human Crime, their first new music in two years.

Driven by raucous, crunchy guitar chords, Human Crime is as anthemic as Pixies have sounded in recent years, and finds Joey Santiago unleashing some classic singalong single-note lead lines in the track’s emotive middle eight.

A digital-exclusive single as opposed to the first taste of a new album, Human Crime was written by frontman Charles Thompson (aka Black Francis) and recorded in Los Angeles. Tom Dalgety produced and mixed the song.

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The track is accompanied by a video directed by bassist Paz Lenchantin, which depicts a “nether world of fairies”.

Says Lenchantin, “The storyline is loosely based on an inside joke between Charles and me about going on tour: how we go through a door from our reality state into the altered state of becoming and being a Pixie.”

Pixies will play their first live dates in over two years with a series of warmup gigs in the US this month, before heading to the UK and Europe for a run of festival shows in the summer.

Head to Pixies Music for full dates and tickets.

Michael Astley-Brown
Editor-in-Chief, GuitarWorld.com

Mike has been Editor-in-Chief of GuitarWorld.com since 2019, and an offset fiend and recovering pedal addict for far longer. He has been writing and editing for guitar publications including MusicRadar, Total Guitar and Guitarist for over 15 years, and recording and performing in original and function bands for two decades-plus. During his career, he has interviewed everyone from John Frusciante to Chris Cornell, Matt Bellamy and Billy Corgan. His writing also appears in The Cambridge Companion to the Electric Guitar. In his free time, you'll find him making progressive instrumental rock as Maebe.