Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
Blender
Chicago Tribune
Entertainment Weekly	A−
Los Angeles Times
NME	7/10
Pitchfork Media	9.4/10
Q
Rolling Stone
The Village Voice	A−

Trompe le Monde is the fourth studio album by the American alternative rock band Pixies, released on September 23, 1991 on 4AD in the United Kingdom and Elektra Records in the United States. After the surf-pop of Bossanova (1990), the album saw a return to the abrasive sound of the band's earlier releases.

Recorded in Burbank, California, Paris and London, the album was produced by Gil Norton, and was Pixies' final studio album before their subsequent break-up two years later. Trompe le Monde is the last album to feature founding bass guitarist Kim Deal, who eventually departed from the band during recording sessions for the long-awaited fifth studio album, Indie Cindy (2014).

The album was described by Michael Bonner, writing in Lime Lizard, as "one of the best albums that you may very well ever hear" and "a strong contender for best album of the 20th century".AllMusic writer Heather Phares noted the reduced role of Kim Deal, calling it "essentially Black Francis' solo debut".

The album name comes from the title of the first track, "Trompe le Monde", a French phrase meaning "Fool the World". Unlike previous albums, the title of the album comes from the name of a song (rather than a song lyric), and is a play on the French phrase "trompe l'oeil"—a painting technique in which the painter fools the viewer into thinking objects presented are real.

"Head On" is a cover of the Jesus and Mary Chain track that was released as a single reaching number 6 in the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks Chart.

"U-Mass" is a song about the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where Black Francis met Joey Santiago before dropping out to form Pixies. Santiago recalls that the original guitar riff was written while they were still enrolled.

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Wikipedia