Xiu Xiu have shared their weird, fantastic new animated video for Jenny GoGo, a new song lifted from the bands upcoming new album, ‘FORGET’. Jenny GoGo merges Dada-esque absurdity, brooding atmosphere, and infectious earworms. The video was directed by Victor Belozerov. Watch the video via YouTube below. ‘FORGET’ is out Febuary 24th via Polyvinyl Record Company.
The band previously released Wondering from ‘FORGET,’ which you can listen to below via Soundcloud.
‘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.
Tracklisting
The Call
Queen of the Losers
Wondering
Get Up
Hay Choco Bananas
Jenny GoGo
At Last, At Last
Forget
Petite
Faith, Torn Apart
Pre-order ‘FORGET’: http://smarturl.it/XiuXiu-Forget
Xiu Xiu will be touring North America this spring, including two performances at Big Ears Festival in Knoxville. In addition to a set of their own music, Xiu Xiu will be performing a special set where they play the music of Twin Peaks (which was released last year on Polyvinyl). The tour kicks off in the bands hometown of Los Angeles for a record release celebration March 16th.
Xiu Xiu tour dates
Mar. 16th – Los Angeles, CA – Union
Mar. 17th – Escondido, CA – A Ship in The Woods
Mar. 19th – San Francisco, CA – The Chapel
Mar. 21st – Seattle, WA – Kremwork
Mar. 22nd – Portland, OR – Holocene
Mar 23rd – 26th – Knoxville, TN – Big Ears Festival
Mar. 30th – Detroit, MI – El Club
Mar. 31st – Chicago, IL – The Empty Bottle
Apr. 1st – Jacksonville, FL – The Sleeping Giant Film Festival
Apr. 6th – Brooklyn, NY – Villain
Apr. 7th – Philadelphia, PA – Boot & Saddle
Apr. 8th – Harrisburg, PA – Cathedral Room at Der Maennerchor
Apr. 9th – Baltimore, MD – The Wind-Up Space
Apr. 11th – Jersey City, NJ – Monty Hall
Apr.12th – New Haven, CT – Bar
Apr. 13th – Providence, RI – Colombus Theatre
Apr. 14th – Portsmouth, NH – 3SArtspace
Apr. 15th – Boston, MA – The Hardcore Stadium (Cambridge Elks Lodge)
