By Thomas Frenette
Jamie Stewart, the only constant member of experimental rock band Xiu Xiu (pronounced “shoo shoo”), cites his two pillars when making music: first, always take it too far, and second, it should aim to give something to the listener. As a result, the band’s way of addressing its audience and appealing to its emotions may disturb more than a few unsuspecting listeners. “SCREAMING THAT MY LIFE’S HORRIBLE! ” says Stewart in a 2003 Pitchfork interview, is a way of “being incredibly honest with what you’re feeling.”
Besides, it is emotionally disrespectful to the listener and inconsistent with Xiu Xiu’s purpose to perform and behave like artists who “just sit there and wear a f**king trucker hat and play a Jaguar guitar,” says Jamie in the same interview. Throughout all 16 albums, Xiu Xiu has instead thrived as a vehicle for emotion to fester, exposing itself to the overwhelming power of grief, shame, and other human pains.
Xiu Xiu has emerged as one of the rare voices that openly discuss personal struggles. The band’s music can help acknowledge repressed facets of our lives: by processing and externalizing negativity, it may feel communicable and less frightening. Amidst uncanny sounds and harsh lyrics, their music grapples with mental illness, family dysfunction, and abuse with such honesty that it is received by many people as cathartic and comforting.
The name “Xiu Xiu” comes from the Chinese film Xiu Xiu: The Sent Down Girl (1998). The Cantonese title (天浴) translates to something like “sky bath,” but “Xiu Xiu” itself (秀秀) roughly means “elegant” or “beautiful.” The film depicts a young girl, Xiu Xiu, being torn away from her caring relatives during the Cultural Revolution in China. Despite living well in her newly imposed lifestyle, she yearns for her old life and turns to prostitution to collect the means to return home. The irony of the character’s name and the tragedy of her life reveals the band’s artistic objective: recognizing beauty in the “rotten realness” of struggle.
Stewart describes the project’s sound as “modern classical, with pop structures, and gay disco beats.” In another interview, he shares that “Xiu Xiu came from feeling stupid and lonely and then wanting to dance it away, but having the club and its music only magnify that stupid and lonely feeling.”
The disorientation when navigating the world and grasping for comfort—in the scarce occasions it manifests itself—is mirrored in how awkward it is to classify the music of Xiu Xiu. The musical profile of Xiu Xiu encompasses an eclectic arsenal of instruments: sequencer modulators and Roland TR-808s, gamelan percussions and baritone saxophones, distorted drums and string ensembles—which offer different characteristics, yet find a way to be integrated into the same songs.
Their songs are not held down by genre, cadence or tempo, but flow freely in an attempt to pursue an emotional thought. Rather than presenting a simplified, polished product, shaved of its oddity and dynamism, Xiu Xiu focuses on the eccentric elements to awaken our visceral sensibilities.
Xiu Xiu distinguishes itself by its unique lyrical identity. With violent melancholy as a muse, the songs often expand on themes that are hard to put into words. For these reasons, bloodcurdling screams and shrieks are used alongside whispers as emotional agents. One of my favorite songs, Walnut House, contains lyrics that reflect the witty expressivity of Xiu Xiu: some are self-deprecating statements (“I am the dumbest b*tch on the planet”), others describe physical states that reflect psychological states (“Sweating buckets/My armpits are like black moons”), and some are blatant cries for help (“Don’t worry, Mom” repeated endlessly over a percussive cacophony).
Xiu Xiu’s discography includes collaborations with the art rock group Deerhoof in Almost Xiu Xiu, Almost Deerhoof (2011) and the industrial noise project Merzbow in Merzxiu (2015). Additionally, Australia’s Gallery of Modern Art commissioned them to rework David Lynch’s Twin Peaks soundtrack by Angelo Badalamenti. The music was performed at the museum for the “David Lynch: Between Two Worlds” exhibit and was released as Xiu Xiu Plays the Music of Twin Peaks (2015).
The new Album, 13″ Frank Beltrame Italian Stiletto with Bison Horn Grips—a reference to a “talismanic” switchblade Jamie Stewart kept during the recording process—was released on September 27 and met with raving criticism. Xiu Xiu is currently on tour, having performed at the Fairmount Theatre in Montréal on October 19th.