Black Francis - Svn Fngrs
My review of Svn Fngrs, the new mini-album from Black Francis, ran today at PopMatters.
I've been intermittently following the post-Pixies Frank Black solo career. Frankly, it's hard to keep up with his output. Usually when I hear one of his 21st century albums I wish he had taken a little more time with it to do some editing, some condensing of material.
Surely he could have made one excellent album using the best tracks from the merely good Black Letter Days and Devil's Workshop instead of simultaneously releasing three-albums worth of material on the same day. It's excessive!
Svn Fngers is another product of the man's intense desire to create songs. When asked for a b-side to slap onto a single for his first "Black Francis" solo album Bluefinger he instead came up with this seven-song mini LP. The result, however, is remarkably focused and a delightful release that doesn't overstay its welcome.
As I say in the review, what gives this release such strength its its thematic core: the exploration of what it means to be legendary. Resurrecting the "Black Francis" moniker in 2004 for the Pixies reunion has clearly made Mr. Thompson consider what it means to be that persona again, now that it's so fraught with expectations and demands from an audience that simply didn't exist when the name was abandoned.
First time around, Black Francis was a persona that he created; now, it's more accurate to say he's embodying a persona created by all those people who grew to love the Pixies in the interim, and spent over a decade building him up in their imaginations. Svn Fngrs takes apart legend and history and seems to try to convey that beneath such grand figures lies a heart and soul, a person tossed about by forces beyond their control.
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