A Whole New Deal

On her debut solo album, Kim Deal expands on the sonics she built in the Breeders and Pixies

- BY JIM BEAUGEZ

NEVERMIND THE INCONGRUITY. To watch a beloved alt-rock pioneer like Kim Deal open arena concerts for a mainstream pop star, three decades after her lo-fi crossover hit “Cannonball” shot up the charts, is to see the enduring influence of the Nineties’ alternative nation.

That's exactly where she and her band-mates in the Breeders stood for four sold-out nights at Madison Square Garden in 2024, as a special guest of Olivia Rodrigo — a devout fan of Deal's work as well as bands like Hole and the Riot Grrrl scene.

With more than a dozen albums and EPs scattered across her work with the Pixies, the Breeders and the Amps — and with monster crowd-pleasers like “Gigantic” in her back pocket — Deal, now 64, has earned the right to be jaded. But she's too curious and good-natured to fall into that trap, so, after finishing her nightly set fronting the Breeders, she made sure to stick around for the headliner.

Deal was equally enthralled by Rodrigo’s dramatic entrance and the roar of thousands of fans collectively losing their shit as the tension reached a crescendo. At the moment when Rodrigo rose up to stage level from below, those screaming fans sent the decibel readings sky high.

Deal says on a call from her home in Dayton, Ohio, still impressed. “It’s the loudest thing I've ever heard at a rock show. And I saw Tad in the Nineties, man.”

Deal may be unaccustomed to such expressions of youthful fervor these days, but that wide-eyed charm is part of what endears her to generations of fans. The bigger reason, of course, is her music— and how she naturally exudes cool as she coos lullaby melodies over grungy riffs, most often banged out on a battered Seagull acoustic or a Fender Stratocaster.

With the Breeders on a break, Deal decided to channel her songwriting into her first solo album,