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Jun 12, 2023 By Nick Roseblade Photography by Nick Roseblade Web Exclusive

It’s a warm pre-summer June evening. Given what we know about the British weather this might actually be summer. As I travel to the Green Door Store, under Brighton station, I see people in floral dresses soaking up the sun. People in shorts and t-shirts with six-packs heading towards parks and the sea front. There is a faint smell of BBQ smoke and chips in the air. All in all, it’s a pleasant evening. Part of me wants to spend it playing Uno on a picnic blanket eating ice cream. Maybe tomorrow. Tonight, I’m off to see Xiu Xiu. I want the skies to cloud over. A storm to roll in. Something to take the edge off a glorious evening and to match the dank power of their latest, and future classic, album Ignore Grief. But it doesn’t. The sun keeps shining and people are applying suntan lotion. As I walk into the Green Door fifteen-minutes after the doors open there is already a reasonable crowd. This crowd will multiply, like something in a petri dish, until the band take the stage two hours later.

(Despite your expectations) Xiu Xiu gigs are very social. I bump into at least four people I didn’t realise would be there and two who I did. Given the heat, everyone is in a good mood. Scott Walker’s “Duchess” is playing through the speakers. If any artist should soundtrack this environment its Walker. The crowd doubles and Walker croons on. Just before the support act The Master Musicians of Joujouka play. The music is dense and hypnotic. It gives us an idea of what to expect. Then the house lights dim. The music fades and J.Josephine takes to the stage. For, about, half an hour J.Josephine creates ethereal soundscapes peppered with distressed saxophone and deep bass. It’s the kind of bass that jiggles your internal organ around. Swallowing becomes a chore, and your eyeballs start shaking in your head. The word monumental comes to mind but doesn’t really do it justice. When the set finishes an explosion of applause comes from the rapt crowd. Is this what they’re into? Is this what they expected to hear? Its hard to tell, but they were either into it or being loudly polite. The crowd decamps to the bar, or outside, before our heroes take the stage. Sitting outside in a one-sided gazebo the venue has put on their outside lighting. Strings of naked bulbs no help to illuminate the gloaming. It reminds me of a delipidated theme park in a dystopic film. And who better to soundtrack this than Xiu Xiu?

Re-entering the venue, the heat of compressed bodies hits you as hard as the music does. Looking around the crowd I’m partly shocked by age of everyone in attendance. The older punter must be over sixty and the youngest is barely twenty. This means they were born after the band originally formed in the early 00s. “So why are they here?” is something I ponder. The answer is easy. The music. For the past twenty-plus years, frontperson, principal songwriter and longest serving bandmember, Jamie Stewart has delved into the darker parts of their psyche, and society, to deliver music that generally moves you, whilst having killer melodies and hooks. This is on display with “Botanica de Los Angeles”, “A Bottle of Rum” and “Fabulous Muscles”. (As hoped for) The setlist is effectively greatest hits set with the majority of their twenty albums being covered. This is what Xiu Xiu offer. Their latest songs rub shoulders with past bangers and fan favourites. When the band’s cover of Angelo Badalamenti’s “Falling”, from Twin Peaks, the crowd swoons as one. Its spellbinding. For a few moments we are transported to The Roadhouse. And this is what Xiu Xiu do, if you let them. They transport you out of your daily grind to a place both wonderful and strange. Throughout the set the crowd are quiet and reverent. Like they’re in a place of worship. For some this is true. For one night the Green Door Store has been converted into a church. These are their hymns and this is their communion. When long time cohort Angela Seo sings/speaks/croons the songs are elevated to another level. Seo should sing more, but I understand why her vocals are used sparingly. The first thing you notice about the gig is how drummer David Kendrick’s drums are both playful and menacing. Kendrick gives something Xiu Xiu they’ve not had before. His pedigree and talent are clear, but so is his playful nature. His fills and rhythms are decisive and mischievous. And the band is better for it. As the set progresses the music gets more fractured and experimental. “The Fox and the The Rabbit”, “Esquerita, Little Richard”, “Ian Curtis Wishlist” which is beyond unsettling and uncompromising, and “Girl with Basket of Fruit”. This run of songs are interspersed with a New Order cover, “Ceremony”, and the pop banger ‘Rumpus Room’ whose chorus gets lodged in my head long after the gig is over. The band end this fascinating, and fantastic, set with “I Luv the Valley OH!” before thanking us and leaving the stage. The house lights come up and Walker starts crooning again.

On the 2010 Xiu Xiu album Dear God, I Hate Myself there is a song called “Chocolate Makes You Happy”. There is a repeated lyric “Chocolate make you happy, And it keeps you awake”. Its like a mantra. The same can be said of the band. As I lie in bed after seeing them live, I am happy, but awake. Usually, I’d be craving sleeps warm embrace, but tonight I’m ok to have my eyes closed in the dark but be totally awake. This is what Xiu Xiu do. They under your skin and into your brain. If you let them, they will give you highs hither to unknown. It won’t be an easy listen. Their challenging experimental art industrial pop songs are designed to give you enough information to get the jist, but certain fragments of information are missing. This iteration of the band might be favourite. With Stewart, Seo and Kendrick they are a tight trio and I generally hope they continue to record, and tour, with this set up a couple more times. Next time Xiu Xiu plays in your town, which they will, go and see them. After, you might not get to sleep straight away, but you will be happier for it.