“It could be the last dance you ever do.”
During these trying times, a terminal touch from the Californian duo could never be too far away, as Xiu Xiu embrace a litany of haphazard duets on their 12th attempt.
For the experimental duo, usually consisting of Jamie Stewart and Angelo Seo, a fortified reshuffle was initiated at the project’s outset: with Jamie as the LP’s stronghold along with a swathe of features ripe for duets. Through their illustrious track record, one can never be too sure of what to expect from Xiu Xiu, particularly with their past descriptions of influences including “gamelan, Korean folk, classical, gay dance music” and everything in between. Given their previous record’s statement, Girl With Basket of Fruit, experimentation seemed somewhat of a competitive sport for the duo, yet Oh No navigates a more accessible route of indie-pop and post-rock for much of its offerings.
An enticing inception through ‘Sad Mezcalita’ sees Xiu Xiu ask the eternal question of “What were you doing there?” as Sharon Van Etten’s voice echoes out into the cavernous ether of our newly-found world. A myriad of sounds and influences imminently surge to the fore here, with the likes of Björk and Nick Cave succumbing to Stewart’s desperate vocals, effortlessly congealing with Van Etten’s careless, part-spoken word style as they wallow in their “broken dreams.”
The exploratory nature to Xiu Xiu inevitably expands within this LP of duets, as we wade through a plethora of other sounds: trip-hop within ‘The Grifters’, art-punk clamouring ‘Rumpus Room’, post-industrial brimming ‘Fuzz Gong Fight’ and ‘One Hundred Years’ - it’s fair to say one can still never be too sure what to expect from this act, even almost 20 years after their inception. Yet the varied layers and nuanced sounds embedded within the aforementioned are expertly captured on this record, enticingly held by a consistently anguished vocal delivery from Stewart, reminiscent of Perfume Genius, as the elusive duets from the likes of Chelsea Wolfe and Twin Shadow saunter in and out of this peculiar fray.
As such pervasively darkened thoughts begin to beseech Stewart’s mind, the inevitable dissonance in this LP’s sound, including screeches, scratches, as well as harmonising major and minor keys, further Xiu Xiu’s art of unconventional storytelling - acutely acting as an apt omen for the mid-section’s industrial holdings.
Seen through various outings with Xiu Xiu in the past, Oh No makes no exception in re-exploring pertinent themes of sexual abuse, violence, and suicidal thoughts from Stewart’s tumultuous mind. ‘Goodbye for Good’ begins by documenting his wish that “I wish you and you were gone” encased in its dissonant tone, eventually transcending into the aptly sceptical “Why protect the person who hurt you?” in ‘A Classic Screw’, concluding with “Everything is free, everything is pain” in ‘It Bothers Me All the Time’. Within this burgeoning scenario of Stewart’s, the successive track ultimately sees an offering, an extension of his hand to such victims of abuse as we’re bestowed an ether of holistic synths, stuttery brass lines and delayed percussion. And it’s from this point where an upbeat, acoustically-driven trajectory is taken within the LP’s final stretch of ‘Knock Out’ and ‘Bottle of Rum’, albeit at great odds with everything which has preceded.
Naturally, the concluding recorded voice note enlisting ants to dance because “It could be the last dance you ever do”, shouldn’t necessarily come as much of a surprise by this stage of Xiu Xiu’s elusive and illustrious career. In spite of its ostentatious messaging, Oh No helps to embody a fervent command of collaboration during a time of great tension and heightened cases of abuse in our societal wake. Whilst the impressive litany of genres covered on this record stretch as far as the eye can see, the lack of coherence between these layered sounds and moods unfortunately restrict Stewart’s emotional excavation far too greatly. For this historically experimental act, the same restrictions can be applied to their compromised vision and narrative on Oh No which proves itself to be bold in general, brilliant at points and bizarre throughout.
6/10
Xiu Xiu's latest LP, Oh No, is out now and can be found here.
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