One of the highlights of Latitude 2008 is sure to be, we reckon, a sighting of the enduring miracle of indie-rock that is Kim Deal. It was Deal, rumour has it, who called time on the Pixies reunion because she would rather be expending her energies on her own band, The Breeders.
Deal, notoriously, doesn’t rush things. But this year’s comeback album by The Breeders, “Mountain Battles”, proved that she made the right decision. Over the years, Deal, her twin sister Kelley (who spends most of her time offstage these days knitting, bizarrely) and their bandmates have perfected a kind of shaky, fragile exuberance.
Breeders gigs can be unpredictable– even now that the twins have substantially cleaned up their acts – but they’re unfailingly warm, funny affairs . A celebration of American alternative rock at its most crotchety, irreverent and compelling, you could say – and if you’re lucky, they might even play that vintage standby of every indie-disco on the planet, “Cannonball”.