The experimental drone noise and rock group has always been a divisive one for me. There are albums I’ll still throw on now, and then that live in this bizarre world that can only be held up and created by Xiu Xiu. I’m talking about Angel Guts, Knife Play, Forget, and Girl With Basket of Fruit. But there are also albums of theirs I just can’t bring myself to experience, like Ignore Grief.
There’s even one of their newest Xiu Mutha Fuckin’ Xiu: Vol. 1, which I only recently heard before this review, that warrants a listen if you’re into art rock with a malignant edge.
Xiu Xiu are also masters of covers, releasing Plays the Music of Twin Peaks a few years ago and touring it until the passing of the avant-film maestro, David Lynch. It makes sense that the core members of Xiu Xiu, Jamie Stewart and Angela Seo, are huge Lynch heads. I can picture many of their songs playing at the Bang Bang Bar or in the iconic Black Lodge. But this latest one, Eraserhead, is inspired by Lynch’s first feature-length film, an independent monochromatic midnight movie that I, like many, hold dear. The Eraserhead film doesn’t really have any music in it, save for some industrial groans and soundscapes layered and layered with heavy reverb, and of course the “In Heaven” track sung by the Lady in the Radiator character.
There is, however, a soundtrack that was released to be a companion to the film, composed by Lynch and Alan Splet (who went on to work on Mulholland Drive). So Xiu Xiu had a lot to pull from for their new album, crafting some droney noise and ambient textures with found recordings, homemade instruments and a whole lot of other weirdness. It’s not music you hear in the film or the soundtrack, but it definitely captures the uncanny valley feel of Lynch’s cult film. I see the frazzled Henry Spencer (Jack Nance) moving through the darkened industrial hellscape of the city, gripping some flowers liek death, while tracks like “Sleep Synth” or “Tetra” play on. Xiu Xiu’s Eraserhead doesn’t really kick into high gear until “Smashy Smashy,” featuring a blood-curdling and noisy scream that sounds like an air horn of impending doom. I guess this is the point in the film when the “baby” is revealed? We also get their version of “In Heaven,” featuring some pipe organ synths and Stewart’s ghostly vocals, before a wall of glass and tile crashing sounds. It’s much different than the original, but again, still fits the lost Eraserhead vibe.
If Xiu Xiu wanted me to think of Eraserhead again, they definitely succeeded.
