The Pixies aren't officially releasing their new album Head Carrier until next Friday (Sept. 30). However, you can listen to it in its entirety via the widget below.

This comes via the folks at NPR, who call the record "an inspired reaffirmation of all the spark, wit and weirdness, tempered by the occasional burst of emotional rawness, that made people fall in love with the Pixies in the first place." They single out new bassist Paz Lenchantin, saying that her "sweet-yet-edgy" vocals provide a "cool counterpoint to Black Francis' howling, sneering, crooning insanity."

They're agreeing with Francis, who praised Lenchantin's energy and enthusiasm a few weeks ago as helping to revitalize the group. "We kinda, especially me, had to lose any kind of tired cynicism we might have about the whole thing," he said. "You don't want to project that onto some new person that's all excited to be in our band. We gotta be like, 'Oh, yes! All right! Here we go!' It's been nice to be like, 'This is an exciting time and we've got something positive going on here.'"

Last week, the Pixies announced that guitarist Joey Santiago was going into rehab for alcohol and drug abuse issues. He is expected to stay at least a month and, while it will hinder some of their plans to promote the record, they do not believe it will affect their tour of Europe, which begins in mid-November.

Head Carrier is the second album by the band since their 2004 reunion. Francis said it has “a bit of early-Pixies slosh in it” and is “more like Doolittle” than their last two records. You can judge for yourself below.

Listen to the Pixies' 'Head Carrier'

 Every Pixies Album Ranked

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