Black Francis may or may not have seven fingers on his right hand

"I was born with seven fingers and seven toes, in my dark face sadness always shows," claims the thumping, thrumming acousto-punk title track from the new Black Francis EP/mini-album, Svn Fngrs. This little collection of seven songs was recorded in seven days, and is a tasty, tasty return to classic form for the former frontman for The Pixies.

The title track is only one minute and forty seven seconds long, but it is addictively refreshing. Black Francis sings, "But tonight I'll be with you, and in the morning when we're through, please know that you have helped me with my pain." Tunes like this'll numb it for me too -- it makes me feel as happy as I did that summer when I was 14 and listened to the Violent Femmes on cassette all through June and July. Each of the songs in the mini-LP forays into different musical ground, from Pixies-worthy fuzz-rock with those strong melodies ("Garbage Heap") to the chugging-at-the-gate serration of "I Sent Away" with its near-apocalyptic overtones.

Svn Fngrs (take out the vowels -- like Pig Latin, only harder to type) is out now from Cooking Vinyl; Black Francis is touring to show it off in your town.

Seven Fingers - Black Francis