Bossanova

When the Doolittle tour ended in January 1990, Francis, Santiago and Lovering moved from Boston to Los Angeles, where they intended to record, and lived at the Oakwood apartments. Norton moved into the same complex. Deal stayed in the UK to record the Breeders' first album with Albini in January, then traveled out to join them. Sessions started in February 1990 at Cherokee Studios. Norton said nothing could be recorded after 6 p.m. because the desk picked up pirate radio stations, and a guitar amplifier produced a loud hum. When he and Santiago met the producer Rick Rubin in a bar and told him, Rubin had his secretary find another studio, and the band carried on at Master Control. Blown Away was written in Spain in June 1989 and recorded in Berlin at Hansa Tonstudio after the band's 19 June concert there.

Unlike earlier records, many songs were written in the studio. Santiago said the band rehearsed for only two weeks, and Francis said he was writing lyrics on napkins five minutes before he sang them. The album opens with Cecilia Ann, and Robert F. Brunner plays theremin on Velouria.

Release and reception

Bossanova was released on 4AD in the UK and by Elektra in the US on 13 August 1990. It reached number 3 in Britain and 70 on the Billboard 200. Velouria and Dig for Fire both reached the US Modern Rock Tracks chart, at number 4 and number 11. Q's Mat Snow thought the band masters of calculated incongruity, and NME's Terry Staunton called it the composite Pixies LP. Rolling Stone's Moira McCormick found it more of a straight-ahead rock album by the Pixies' standards. Select named it album of the year for 1990, and Blender's Jon Dolan called it their sunniest record, noting Francis' new obsession with friendly aliens.

Pitchfork's 2014 essay found Bossanova and Trompe le Monde narrower in scope than Doolittle, with a tough, inorganic presence like burnished chrome, and said Bossanova is sweeter than Trompe, though its sweetness exists at an impossible distance. Radio X wrote in 2025 that it is not a bad album but not as era-defining as Doolittle. The record appears in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.