FORGET
FORGET was recorded during a period of epic productivity for Xiu Xiu. While writing FORGET, they released the lauded Plays the Music of Twin Peaks, collaborated with Mitski on a song for an upcoming John Cameron Mitchell film, composed music for art installations by Danh Vo, recorded an album with Merzbow and scored an experimental reworking of the Mozart opera, The Magic Flute. All of this frantic, external activity lead to a softly damaged dreaminess and broadened intent that has not been heard before in other Xiu Xiu works. The album was produced by John Congleton (Blondie, Sigur Ros), Greg Saunier of Deerhoof and Xiu Xiu's own Angela Seo. It features guest appearances by fabled minimalist composer Charlemagne Palestine, LA Banjee Ball superstar commentator Enyce Smith, Swans guitar virtuoso Kristof Hahn and legendary drag artist and personal hero of Xiu Xiu, Vaginal Davis. Standout track, “Wondering” is one of the catchiest boogie pop gems in the Xiu Xiu catalog, but like much of FORGET, it still bears an underlying tension that manifests differently in each piece. From the haunted guitar duet of "Petite", the hilariously fraught lyrics of "Get Up," the advanced industrial boxing match of "Jenny GoGo," or the experimental goth explosion of "Faith, Torn Apart," all the songs in their own way build to a roiling boil of a fate in vanishing. The calligraphy on the cover translates literally to "we forget." It bows to the universality of everything and everyone's inevitable decline and foggy disappearance. Regarding the album title, Xiu Xiu singer Jamie Stewart said, “To forget uncontrollably embraces the duality of human frailty. It is a rebirth in blanked out renewal but it also drowns and mutilates our attempt to hold on to what is dear.” FORGET is both the palliative fade out of a traumatic past but also the trampling pain of a beautiful one's decay. Xiu Xiu is Shayna Dunkelman, Angela Seo and Jamie "Butch Jenny" Stewart Contributors: Father Murphy Vaginal Davis Kristof Hanh Greg Saunier Charlemange Palestine Enyce Smith Devin Hoff
The new Xiu Xiu LP consolidates several of the band’s strengths—mixing hooks, cacophony, and stellar production. Individual moments shine, but the album can lull you into a state of absentmindedness.
For nearly 15 years, Xiu Xiu has madly scribbled in a cluttered sketchbook of experimental rock, with enough brilliant moments to keep listeners wondering whether frontman Jamie Stewart might be onto something. And yet, for the most part, each record has stubbornly maintained a disorganized shamble, making it safe to…
"Accessible" is a relative term. With FORGET, the latest from Xiu Xiu, it's a case of being outside and strange but somehow relatable, as op...
Ever prolific and avant garde, Jamie Stewart's ongoing noise-pop experiment Xiu Xiu follow up last year's chillingly excellent Xiu Xiu Plays the Music of Twin Peaks with their thirteenth studio album, FORGET.
After 15 years of making music, and more than a dozen albums, Xiu Xiu follows up last year's LP of Twin Peaks covers with something less accessible.
Forget is Xiu Xiu’s purest pop record, though that doesn’t make it any more accessible.