The lyric “You have regurgitated a tone/ Now sat in your tract for many years” would be funny if this wasn’t so absurdly apparent. Just when you begin to take these new releases on their own merits up crops Bagboy on Pixies’ latest offering; a full nine months after its initial release, with the unwelcome reminder of Jeremy Dubs’ pitch perfect emulation of Kim Deal’s backing vocals after the bassist had left the band.

It’s difficult to take anything other than a cynical view of that particular move, even more so now that they’ve gathered these three EPs into ‘Indie Cindy’, the first new Pixies album in twenty-three years. This was after fans had already shelled out for the first two EP’s blissfully unaware that a new album was in the offing.

First impressions of ‘EP-3’ aren’t good. The hooks aren’t as immediate as some of the other recent songs but there are some points of merit within the four tracks. The rewards are harder won than on EP’s 1 & 2, but the perseverance pays off, if only for the fact that it clarifies that things aren’t as bad as they first appear. Bagboy is one of the more successful outings, a song whose music has been around for a few years apparently – cast off from a film idea that never materialised – with David Lovering’s booming, no-nonsense drumming showing the drum machine that opens the EP who’s the sentient boss.

Silver Snail is largely an empty shell embossed with some of Santiago’s glittering guitar. The promising brightness of the intro immediately dissipates into a melange of Bossanova’s more ethereal musical slants, with vague imagery hinting towards that album’s extra-terrestrial themes “in a room with a lightbulb sun”.

The two tracks that close the EP – like with the tracks of a similar poppy ilk on the previous EP’s – are of more interest, if only for their un-Pixie sounding format. Ring The Bell is lightweight, but meanders through some lovely melodic high tones courtesy of Joey Santiago, while Jaime Bravo is music to skip along to on a sunny day – college rock in the Weezer mould. Santiago phones it in on the guitar breaks as Black sings “It’s so nice/ Here in the sunlight” It’s slight, and brevity would have served it well, but it does go some way to re-building some goodwill after the initial cynicism of their recent endeavours.

As far as recent Pixies releases go, it’s safe to give this one a miss. Chances are you’ve already got your hands on Bagboy from its initial release – it’s the only thing of any real interest on here, both musically and in its disingenuous Deal-mimicking vocal – or you’re going to pick up the new album. The kindest thing to say about ‘EP-3’ is that it’s unremarkable; its tracks are better served as the album filler they’ve turned out to be.