The Edge of Avant-Garde
Xiu Xiu’s Girl with Basket of Fruit is not easy to listen to, and it’s definitely not an entry level into their discography, but it is Xiu Xiu at their most mature level yet.
Jamie Stewart’s voice stars as the main component inside the record’s unsettling and disturbing Enter the Void-like storyline. He brilliantly uses expressionistic combinations between speaking and singing over distorted underground beats. The vocals are manic, politically driven and noisy, and Angela Seo’s inventive production can be reminiscent of Death Grips with its booming identity and articulation. A distorted mélange of industrial, art rock and glitch music, the album is clearly influenced by several books that Stewart read concerning nature, art and Demonology.
His voice throughout sounds like it was recorded on tape. It manages to be lo-fi sounding in nature despite being extremely loud in tone. “Girl with Basket of Fruit” begins in mayhem with clashing exotic percussion, stressed out vocals and troubling lyrics about a girl. “It Comes Out as A Joke” then goes darker in club ambiance with heavy kicks and stretched metallic shakers. The vocalization is frail yet frightening and reaches earsplitting terror until the record plunges into more theatrical obscenities, almost like a schizophrenic episode.
“Amargi ve Moo” is first so dissonant yet weirdly calming, like a velvety nightmare inside a very chaotic mind. Foreign phrases like “A Kakapo, A sparkling out of control!” are perplexing to the mind and numbing in translation. “Ice Cream Truck” rumbles forward as Stewart sings about a rape assault, “She is and was passed out.” The song sounds industrial with deep synths and glitches throughout, followed by out of place cello solos. Yet, it’s “Pumpkin Attack on Mommy and Daddy,” the song’s progressive transitions, that really hammer home the band’s seasoned skills in sound design, sampling and structure.
What’s different about this record is that Stewart’s sporadic lyrics aren’t just witty but politically and socially charged. “Mary Turner, Mary Turner” intricately marries sound with lyricism as he vengefully describes the true story of Mary Turner, a black mother who was lynched in the early 1900s with her unborn child. The delivery is aggressive and relevant, directed towards a certain demographic: “fuck your war, fuck your flag.” There’s a message here, in fact, there’s a message in this whole album screaming to be heard and understood.
Another powerful track is “Scisssssssors” which draws from experimental percussionist Angus MacLise’s DREAMWEAPON with its crazy jungle-like percussion and quick bass-lines. Screaming audio clips and whispering weepy vocals repeat “you are erased,” cementing the dim feeling to this all.
“The Wrong Thing” and “Normal Love” stand differently from the album. They fit more of a pop music format that is more apparent in Xiu Xiu’s previous records. “Normal Love” exudes these flowery, sultry pianos and is perhaps the happiest sounding track. The song is a reflection of its own title as it attempts to sound more ‘normal’ than the project’s overall direction. However, it cannot escape the ominous undertones of the album as inverse reverbed backing vocals eerily become audible. A compelling final thought for the record, and like an outcast trying to communicate to the real world, Stewart bitterly cries out “just let me pretend.” Girl with Basket of Fruit may be Xiu Xiu at their craziest self ever.
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