“If you are expecting consolation, I will become outrageous. If you expect me to be outrageous, I will become extra outrageous.” Xiu Xiu, Gray Death
In fish terms, Xiu Xiu are like salmon. We all get a little mesmerised by a band you can’t pin down, those cheeky morsels that swim left when you expect them to go right, but Xiu Xiu have turned twisting and turning against the tide of expected superlatives into their own fascinating and beautiful art. Some artists may think it’s enough to swim against the respected current but Xiu Xiu find creating and subverting their own tide far more interesting – swimming against their own downstream, jumping their own mischeviously-placed waterfalls. Funny how, like salmon, they make it look so effortless and graceful.
A disparate pool of temptuous folk, abrasive percussion, dissonant classical and electro, the enjoyment of Xiu Xiu stems from their unflinching ability to suck you from place to place; from meditative tranquilly to grinding generators, from murky electronica to wistful folk and swaying abandon
Just take one song from their new record, Dear God, I Hate Myself, as an example. Impossible Feeling is a four minute climb of clashing cello and piano, set against Jamie Stewart’s breathless vocals, sounding somewhere between Steve Reich’s Different Trains and a detuned Arcade Fire. It obliterates any essence of pop, yet is as wondrous and addictive as anything by Xenomania.
Dear God, I Hate Myself, is out on 22 February..
words: Kai Jones (http://ilostifound.wordpress.com/)
THREE SYLLABLES present XIU XIU/STARS NO STARS
25th FEB 2010
doors 8pm
FREE ENTRY b4 9.30pm
http://www.myspace.com/xiuxiuband
Do You need to get tickets before to be able to go, or just turn up ?
Matt, just turn up on the night. Doors at 8pm, free before 9:30pm.
Awesome gig to get in the Institute, nice not to see them go to a chain venue as well… Looking forward to it!