Xiu Xiu are named after a movie set in Maoist China – “The Sent Down Girl”. In which the heroine endures all manner of torture at the hands of a male dominated society that crushes her eventually. It’s a strong reference point for Jamie Stewart’s band (formed in San Jose, California) where the songs dance between the edge of violence and fragility. A theme that unites a diverse and searching body of work that has never stood still. New album “Ignore Grief” stands sparse, spectral and industrial. Following on from “Oh No’s “ duets and an album of Twin Peaks covers. The thread that unites all of these very different works is Jamie’s restless devotion to honesty and emotional rawness. In interviews he has spoken of his hypersensitivity. He means everything that Xiu Xiu deliver; because he feels everything.
The set starts gentle with “Pahrump” from the new album. A yearning vocal elevated by the urgency of the band pounding cymbals in unison. Older songs like “Botanica de Los Angeles” are geared towards heaviness to help them sit beside the more industrial sound of the newer material like “Maybae Baybae” that follows. “A Bottle of Rum” from the duet album “Oh No” has a New Order feel with its dual vocal, and characteristic jangly guitar. Jamie channels all his energy into his delivery. The music propels his body like bottled lightning escaping in bursts. He is complemented here by a softer vocal from bandmate Angela. The set undulates between propulsion and its constant coiling again like the hush of “Master of the Bump”. There is then the majestic beauty of Julee Cruise’s “Twin Peaks” song “Falling”. This builds and builds into a huge cathedral like sound – with an almost operatic vocal. As always, Jamie gives everything – and we can feel it.
This undulation of energy is necessary. The cracked hush and vulnerability of “Fabulous Muscles” has a starkly honest queerness that the likes of Perfume Genius must hold precious. “Esquerita” then hits out with its bludgeoning thump and beautiful hostility; before they unleash a version of “Ceremony” that threatens to surpass New Order themselves. Having seen New Order the week before – this is not an exaggeration. Jamie’s urgency elevating it. There is a discordant coda and the cracked Dictaphone confessional of “Ian Curtis wishlist”. There is a bravery to this rawness, but it is the only way Xiu Xiu know how.
Unlike with the aforementioned movie: the fact that Jamie has these songs – by way of refuge and expression. Try as it might, the world can’t crush him and this Xiu Xiu.
