New this month from former Pixies frontman Charles Thomas is Seven Fingers… unless it's Svn Fngrs. It might be either. Also, you'll note that I didn't refer to this as a Black Francis record. It is, but at this point I'm so confused about what makes an album which… well, let's just say that it's easier to keep Stephin Merritt projects separate.
I was underwhelmed by the last record under this band name, Bluefinger, and I asked a lot of questions in that review about what made it a "Black Francis" record instead of a "Frank Black" record. I'm not going to coner that ground again. Instead, I'll just say that this record is definitely better.
It is only 7 songs long, and I got it for only $9, which is pretty good. Of the seven, we have, I think, 4 highlights:
"Garbage Heap," which is track 2, starts with some Pixies style instrumentation, and I guess you could even sell the verse as a Pixies song, but when you get to the chorus, we're talking about Frank Black, maybe even FB & The C's. But, as I've pointed out probably a hundred times, that's actually what I like best. So this is probably the second strongest track on the record.
"Half Man" is the shakiest entry on this list. It's about 2 and a half minutes long, and I like about 30 seconds of it enough to mention. It would have been the weakest song on, say, Dog In the Sand, but that's actually not terrible. I think anyone who doesn't like this is probably just going to say that it's boring.
"The Tale of Lonesome Fetter" took two or three listens to grow on me. The verses are weaker than the chorus, but I like this song.
"When They Come To Murder Me," the last track on the record, is probably the best of the seven songs. It's the one that should be a no brainer for Frank Black fans. If you like any of his other work since, say, 1998, you'll probably like this (I allow for the existence of a fan who liked everything through Cult of Ray but nothing since, who may not go for this one.)
So I realize that that's not the strongest review, and after you read it, you're likely to reach the conclusion that this is a record for completionists, and everyone else would be better off spending $0.99 on one song on iTunes. That's a totally justified conclusion. But I feel good about the record nonetheless.
Rating: I feel good about the record, despite some weak songs.