Label: Polyvinyl
By George Ward
Today, experimental legends Xiu Xiu return with ‘Xiu Mutha Fuckin’ Xiu: Vol. 1,’ a covers album featuring a bizarre and fascinating mix of tracks previously only available through subscription. Xiu Xiu are no strangers to covers, with 3 albums full of them, and vocalist Jamie Stewart has described them as “an attempt to say thank you to those songs.”
According to Stewart, they “never approach them thinking ‘How can we improve these’ but really “What can we learn from these?’”. In true Xiu Xiu fashion, this “thank you” is completely unconventional, but entirely heartfelt.
Opener ‘Psycho Killer’ starts things off with a clang, with a clattering of metal, before the band rattle in like a travelling band of merry Talking Heads fans. It’s not an easy feat to put a fresh spin on such a heavily covered song, but Xiu Xiu’s brand of chaos fits perfectly.
The sound is muddy, with Stewart’s vocals buried under percussive slams and jittery shakers. Drowned in reverb, his complete vocal commitment is what brings the cover together, giving the lyrics a far more desperate and disturbed feel.
On ‘I Put A Spell On You,’ this deranged commitment is demonstrated yet again. Dissonant horns clash with heavily distorted guitars and wild drums: a glorious chaotic cacophony of noise, led by Stewart’s vocals, sounding as if yelled through a cheap radio. As with many tracks on this album, Xiu Xiu present to you a concept that makes no sense on paper, before perfectly demonstrating just how much sense it truly makes in practice.
It is the duo’s eclectic taste which makes this project so entertaining. At one moment, you’re thrust into the nightmarish ‘Hamburger Lady,’ with synths melting through the floorboards and pooling on the dingy basement floor; at another, you’re being crooned at by a Roy Orbison cover band.
Stewart sounds right at home for his rendition of ‘In Dreams,’ where he croons through the fog of a smoky lounge (think Twin Peaks), while echoey drums drift over the track. His fragile, tearful voice is the perfect vessel for these words.
Following this, we’re taken to the club. Soft Cell’s ‘Sex Dwarf,’ hits you like the feeling of accidentally wandering into a hidden techo basement at 3am, complete darkness, bass rattling you. This one is a complete mess, in the best way possible. Tinny drum machines propel the track, accompanied by impossibly squelchy bass and impossibly abrasive synth noise.
After escaping from this room of the club, you’ll find yourself in both the most surprising and most devastating room of them all: the one playing Robyn’s ‘Dancing On My Own’. Stewart’s vocals are at their saddest and warbliest here and, at times, it is a little much.
However, this is a great encapsulation of what keeps Xiu Xiu feeling so fresh this late into the game: their ideas are often very silly, like covering a beloved dance track with such bleakness, but this silliness is delivered with such dedication, that you can’t help but respect it.
‘Xiu Mutha Fuckin’ Xiu: Vol. 1′ is incredibly messy, with some tracks feeling too gimmicky to be returned to. However, for fans of Xiu Xiu, this mess should be exactly what you are hoping for. Where else can you hear Jamie Stewart rap “Lick on my clit, make this pussy cream” (Glorilla) immediately before delivering a brutally sincere cover of Daniel Johnston?
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