Title TK in Bloomington, MN

For most of the '90s,
the Breeders
seemed resigned to being just a part of
alternative rock
's mythology: a lightning-in-a-bottle success story that helped define the era's sound and spawned a classic single before disappearing into substance abuse and a severe case of writer's block. By the end of the decade, hearing new material from
Kim Deal
and company seemed about as likely as a new
My Bloody Valentine
album, so the fact that
Title TK
, their long-awaited return, exists at all seems more than a little miraculous. In a weird way, the long, long wait for them to resurface works in their favor -- at this point, it's welcome to hear anything from them. After a nine-year (!) wait, a new
Breeders
album is just a nice addition to what's going on in
indie rock
instead of its salvation. From its very name,
(journalistic shorthand for "title to come") reflects this: it's a surprisingly low-key, self-effacing return that doesn't feel like an attempt at reclaiming
Last Splash
's glory. Instead, it blends the stripped-down sounds of
Pod
and
the Amps
'
Pacer
into a collection of strangely intimate, feminine
garage rock
.
Steve Albini
's quick- and cheap-sounding production throws a spotlight on the weathered, offhand quality of
's voice -- which is more sandpaper than sugar nowadays -- as well as every quirk in the band's playing. Even revved-up guitar rushes like
"Little Fury"
"Huffer"
have a little vulnerability lurking around the edges, and on the sweet
"Too Alive,"
it sounds like you're in the garage with the band. There's a fascinating duality to
, from the way that nearly every song mixes and blends
Kim
's and
Kelley
's not-quite-identical vocals to the way it switches between sweet, playfully spiky songs like
"Son of Three"
"Forced to Drive"
and dark, mysterious tracks. With its brooding, druggy allure,
"The She"
recalls
Jefferson Airplane
's
"White Rabbit,"
"Put On a Side"
and the aptly named
"Sinister Foxx"
have a sexy menace that
haven't explored since
"Off You,"
's first single, is about as far from
"Cannonball"
as the band can get, a dreamy, breathy
ballad
that sounds intimate but masks its feelings in beautifully cryptic imagery. Very much a take-it-or-leave-it work,
doesn't even try to live up to fans' inflated expectations of what a
album should be -- though the band may not have spent the entire nine years they were gone crafting this album, it feels like the only album they could make after such a long wait.
isn't always a flattering portrait of
, but it is an admirably honest one. ~ Heather Phares