Xiu Xiu: OH NO | 4ZZZ Brisbane 102.1FM

- To begin to describe the elements that make up a Xiu Xiu record feels contradictory at heart. Over their past eleven studio albums, they’ve embraced disturbing post-rock, irresistible industrial dance, melancholic singer-songwriter, and in the case of last album Girl With Basket Of Fruit, the harrowing hybrid of doom folk and noise music. Their twelfth album and their second as a duo, OH NO, finds odd reassurance in the aftermath of its tortured predecessor, opting for a refreshing new approach.

At its heart, OH NO is an album of duets. Over its elaborate, hour-long runtime, Xiu Xiu’s Jamie Stewart shares his stage as a vocalist with fifteen others. What could come across as a gimmicky change of format, ultimately works wonders at elevating Xiu Xiu’s sound following their most devastating album. Leaving that record in the past, however, doesn’t necessarily mean Stewart and his bandmate Angela Seo move away from the endearing weirdness that makes them so special.

In Rumpus Room, a collaboration with Australia’s Angus Andrew of Liars, Stewart sings over a distorted, lo-fi beat and crisp, explosive drums. He rants about Flaming Hot Cheetos and muses “what is faith without a crisis?” In Seo’s self-directed music video, she is abducted and taken to a rumpus room while Stewart murmurs, “unwrap a cutie.” Their chaotic inhibitions continue in Fuzz Gong Fight, a duet between Stewart and Seo, Xiu Xiu sample their own breakthrough 2004 song I Luv the Valley OH!, before fuzzy, distorted bass and unsettlingly bright keys that reminisce their Plays the Music of Twin Peaks album, charges through.

Not every track here contains the seemingly perpetual weirdness that defines the duo though. In the brilliant opener Sad Mezcalita, which features standout collaborator Sharon Van Etten, Xiu Xiu waves of ripping bass and chilling synths are present, but only exist to emphasise Stewart and Van Etten. Sad Mezcalita actually contains some of the most euphoric moments in the band’s recent work.

Xiu Xiu still find time to include another lengthy sonic exploration in One Hundred Years. Here, they reimagine The Cure’s unsettling industrial rock masterpiece alongside goth rock legend Chelsea Wolfe. While the original version, taken from The Cure’s 1982 album Pornography, is jangly at heart, Stewart and Wolfe’s delivery is even more tormented than that of Robert Smith, finding the bleakest route through the song. Vocals are mystified with reverb and noise, while Chelsea Wolfe shines here in what is clearly a full circle moment in her own discography.

It’s strange that a collaborative album from a band as insular as Xiu Xiu could feel as honest and receptive as it does. Yet here, Xiu Xiu transform thanks to the inclusion of others. OH NO benefits from the inspiration of the many, a collective spirit. Don’t worry though, it’s still Xiu Xiu:  for every optimistic, measured OH there’s a corresponding harsh and pessimistic NO!

- Sean Tayler.