Xiu Xiu – La Foret / 2005 5 Rue Catherine / 11 Tracks / http://www.xiuxiu.org / http://www.5rc.com / Reviewed 04 June 2005
Xiu Xiu was an act that I had heard lauded through every section of independent media for the last few years, and this album, eir fourth is trying, challenging to say the least. The very lightly arranged opening to the disc, “Clover” defines any sort of categorization until the entirety of the track finishes. The synth lines and random xylophone-sounding noises do not a song make, but rather the extremely disjointed nature of the song ensures that listeners give more attention to “La Foret” than say a cookie-cutter pop act.
Something that is immediately laudable about Jamie’s work are the very spontaneous sections of each track on “La Foret”, moving between synth-pop and Spartan, not-songs like it was becoming unfashionable. One thing is known, though: Jamie has a keen ear (especially during the second half of “Muppet Face”) for those constructs that will totally engross listeners. Xiu Xiu really becomes relevant in terms of radio with their fourth track on “La Foret”, “Pox”. “Pox” is a track that maintains this relevancy with the maintenance throughout of a very tried and true sound, even if it is tweaked to the extreme by Jamie. This is not the case with “Baby Captain”, which uses a sedate instrumentation as a back-drop for Jamie’ schizophrenic desires.
The incorporation of differing instruments during this song (specifically the flute that comes forth every once in a while) really reminds me of acts like Steve Lieberman and Mizar. What really delineates Xiu Xiu from both of those mediocre acts is a sense of abortion when time dictates. When a song is doing nothing besides repeating itself, it is then time to move onto the next movement or track. Even the spoken rantings of Jamie can be rationalized and absorbed into a pseudo-normality with this mentality. The disc may use acceptable progressions and sounds, but the whispered/spoken lyrics of Jamie during tracks like “Rose of Sharon” will instill a creeping dread that will most likely cause someone to jump out of their seat when the industrial, distorted synthesizer line comes in. Lyrics like “It’s light outside when you finally see / the quiet failure sleeping next to you” will chill to the bone even as Jamie tries to infuse them with some white-wash in the form of harmony. Xiu Xiu is an act that will affect the mind and heart and in a way that is completely unexpected. Who would have expected that someone talking over tracks and laying down only what is absolutely essential would be so compelling?
Top Tracks: Pox, Baby Captain
Rating: 5.8/10