Song of the Day: Pixies - Greens and Blues

Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part of our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJs think you should hear. Today’s song, featured on the Morning Show with John Richards, is “Greens and Blues” by Pixies from the 2014 self-released EP-2.

Pixies - Greens and Blues (MP3)

The ongoing tale of the Pixies is one unlike any other band in modern music. For their first act, the Boston, Massachusetts, quartet of singer/guitarist Black Francis, guitarist Joey Santiago, bassist/vocalist Kim Deal, and drummer Dave Lovering made five under-appreciated-at-the-time albums to moderate success and infamously broke up via fax. Then, for their second chapter, the band became one of the first significant alternative-era bands to reunite and become a festival, then mid-sized venue, staple. Their third act began this summer, when the band unexpectedly announced that they were preparing to self-release new music (!) and that bassist Kim Deal had left the band (!!!). Fast forward six months, and the band (Francis, Santiago, and Lovering and ex-A Perfect Circle bassist Paz Lenchantin) have been touring relentlessly behind EP-1 and EP-2 (with more material expected), working on making the band's current chapter defined by their workhorse ethic and independent spirit rather than who's playing bass. "Greens and Blues" is probably the most mellow song on EP-2 - it's preceded by the furious "Blue Eyed Hexe" and crunching "Magdalena", and followed by the spiky "Snakes" - but it might be the album's most striking moment. Francis' clear, somewhat sentimental narrative addresses alienation (both figuratively and literally) over a very Teenager of the Year arrangement. Francis has said that "Greens and Blues" was written with "Gigantic" in mind, and even if its more of a spiritual sequel to some of his work with the Catholics than it is "Gigantic", it's undoubtedly another keeper from the Pixies' unexpected (and unexpectedly solid) third act.

Pixies have already announced a busy schedule for 2014, including a stop in Seattle at the Paramount Theatre on Tuesday, February 18, with Best Coast opening. Tickets for that show are long sold out, but there's good news: Pixies will be playing live on KEXP on the same day at 9:30 PST. Even more, they'll be the first band to be featured on our online video stream. See all of their tour dates and hear about new music over at their website and Facebook, and watch the video for the EP-2 track "Blue Eyed Hexe" below.