What with it having been the best part of three decades since the Pixies last released something worthy of your time, attention and so on, you’d be very readily forgiven for overlooking On Graveyard Hill. Although this first track to surface from the Bay Staters’ forthcoming Beneath the Eyrie full-length goes to show there’s still at least a little life left in them yet: lusty, crepuscular lyrical surreality is relayed via a series of gravelly yelps, cemeterial shrieks, etc.; Paz Lenchantin’s bass is smothered in eerie chorus; sparingly deployed open-string guitars bring signature dissonance. Aflame with the fierce insistence of Dig for Fire, it really is their finest work in fucking ages; and makes for what may well seem a pretty improbable return to form.

Beneath the Eyrie is available from September 13^th via Pixies Recording Inc, while the Pixies play Alexandra Palace on September 20^th.