5 Rue Christine
2005
La Foret
About This Album
As conceptual as Xiu Xiu's fusion of post-punk, gamelan, synth pop, folk, and noise might seem, the group's music never feels overly cerebral or detached. On the contrary, it's usually brimming over with often contradictory emotions: love, hate, sex, violence, fear, and humor cling together so tightly in Jamie Stewart's songs that they can't be separated. Harsh and beautiful words and sounds remain intertwined on La Foret, which ranks among Xiu Xiu's subtlest, and scariest, albums. Stewart and company trade the deceptively bouncy electronics of 2004's Fabulous Muscles for a more subdued but eclectic backdrop that includes vibraphone, autoharp, and harmonium as well as the more expected keyboards and guitars. The folk and classical elements explored on earlier work like Knife Play and F*g Patrol resurface, beginning on La Foret's opening track, "Clover." Delicate acoustic guitars, vibraphone, and double bass play an aching, hesitant melody, while Stewart intones, "Don't don't don't walk like my single hope/I can only say it so many times," mining the song's pauses for all the beauty and pain that they're worth. Later, "Ale"'s clarinets -- which make the song sound like a kissing cousin to Björk's "Anchor Song" -- add to the air of barely restrained heartbreak and disgust.
Track List (try tracks 1,2,3,5 and 11)

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