Xiu Xiu
La Forêt
[5 Rue Christine, 2005]
Jamie Stewart is perhaps the most casually adept musician to ever sing delightfully sad songs. His albums usually sound best soon after feeling the consequences of chance unknowns that destroy the best of intentions. Many of his songs veer into gestures of melancholic self-immolation. Stewart's voice is frequently the only melodic anchor which retains any of the sentimental fetishism typical of pop. Bursts of noise bloom and open chromatically as the chorus enters throughout "Muppet Face" while, near the three minute mark, Stewart is milking doo-wop bliss for all its subconscious cabaret. "Ale" is chamber pop recontextualized as hazy and melodramatic.
Many of the songs on this album sound fragile. "Dangerous You Shouldn't Be Her" is as delicate and partial as a memory, underscored with bright and subtle instrumental undertones. You do have to work a bit to discover the many pleasures of this music, but if you stay with La Forêt you can really begin to enjoy Stewart's labyrinthian melodrama.
MP3: Xiu Xiu - Ale
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