ALBUM REVIEW: Xiu Xiu – Girl with Basket of Fruit
By Jack Salvucci
Xiu Xiu’s newest record, Girl with Basket of Fruit, barrages the listener with many familiar tricks from the band’s playbook. The clean production and twists on those sounds familiar to fans work together to create one of the more interesting and contemporary records of the band’s discography. This record comes two years after 2017’s Forget, a highly memorable record that saw Xiu Xiu exploring new territories of contemporary electronic and psychedelic pop with some of the best production of their career. While Forget is arguably one of their more accessible records, however, this new record, with eclectic instrumentation and abrasive tones strewn on nearly every track, will be familiar to the avid Xiu Xiu listener.
It should be noted for those unfamiliar with Xiu Xiu that it can take time and re-listening to see the appeal and appreciate the beauty of their music, given their frequent usage of abrasive sounds and the exceedingly depressing vocal delivery and subject matter of many of the songs. The experience of listening to their music can often be visceral, given the extreme emotions that Jamie translates into music so well. The first two tracks, “Girl with Basket of Fruit” and “It Comes Out as a Joke,” are a perfect example of a more angry and energetic sound to be expected from a Xiu Xiu song. The combination of the high-end production, grinding bass synths, acoustic percussion, and the electronic stylings all contribute to a sound that is both new and easily fitting with the rest of their discography. Past these developments in sound, the tracks are super captivating and energizing to listen to. The tracks take surprising turns before any section has gone on too long, never losing steam for a second. In many instances, the individual sounds that make up these great tapestries may be considered unusable by most, yet are fit together perfectly by Xiu Xiu.
From there, we get another new take on a classic Xiu Xiu sound: exceedingly slow, and exceedingly sad. Like many songs in Xiu Xiu’s discography, “Amargi ve Moo” features a prominent and haunting stringed instrument (a standup bass perhaps). The minimalist aspects of the first half of this song make for a very personal and intense listening experience. It feels, as it often does in a Xiu Xiu song, that Jamie Stewart is right there with you. While some musiciains seem groomed and reserved in their music, Jamie always seems to reveal himself, practically naked, to the listener. After this track finishes, “Ice Cream Truck” returns with the intense energy of the first two tracks. The vocal delivery may not be for everyone, but the instrumental has great energy and rhythm, especially the nearly free-jazz interlude.
Following “Ice Cream Truck,” we get one of the best songs on the record, “Pumpkin Attack on Mommy and Daddy.” This track shares the most resemblance to modern electronic music, almost sounding like something Major Lazer might make if they suddenly started making experimental music. The song features numerous drops and is strewn with a combination of humorous and intensely depressing vocal samples. Aspects of the song sound like a heavy mix of hardstyle and moombahton. This song was released as a teaser track prior to the album release and was accompanied by a music video that deserves mention (cw: self-harm, violence, generally unsettling imagery in the music video, and discussed here). Keeping with the stylings of their past music videos, the video for this song was exceedingly cinematic and well made. Many of the shots are color coordinated and organized in a way that is reminiscent of the work of directors such as Wes Anderson. The song features many shots that are highly unsettling without there being a clear reason why. Additionally, there are close-up shots of people cutting themselves, and eating food they do not want to eat. The video also features the usage of occult imagery, paralleling the use of runes on the cover of the album. Overall, the video fits the song very well, and, while intense, is definitely worth watching.
The next song, “The Wrong Thing,” is another slower song but is more polished and traditional (to the extent possible from Xiu Xiu) than is “Amargi ve Moo.” This song is very reminiscent of the work of The Books, particularly of their album Thought for Food. The track is fragile yet beautiful, and features less aversive and dissonant noises than the majority of the album, save the ending. This slower track is followed by “Mary Turner Mary Turner,” which is one of the most chaotic and intense and upset songs on the whole album. (cw: description of racial violence, violence against women, lynching) The song graphically describes the murder and lynching of two young black girls in the United States. The song powerfully captures the evil of what happened and likely is a reference to the continued existence of systemic racism and acts of hate in the United States 100 years later. This idea is backed by the close of the song, which emphasizes a deep frustration and hatred of the United States, nationalism, racism, and xenophobia.
The last two tracks are some of the best on the album. “Scisssssssors,” the first teaser track to be released, sums up well the sound of the remainder of the album, alternating between unnerving and dissonant, intense and fast-paced, and somber slower sections. The release of this song was accompanied by a music video with many similarities to the video for Pumpkin Attack on Mommy and Daddy (notably the usage of upsetting and occult imagery, and the cinematic qualities of many of the shots). The track, like many on the album, is an absolute emotional roller coaster.
Like “Wondering” or “I Luv the Valley OH!,” the final track “Normal Love” sees the group utilizing much more traditional instrumentation and song structure than usually can be expected of them. The standup bass and the backing vocals on this track are fantastic. The strained vocals also work perfectly. The song exemplifies well one of the things I love so much about the group: their ability to create something totally unlike anything else out there, using many of the same pieces. I can not think of another song that “Normal Love” reminds me of, in their discography or otherwise (other than that the other vocalist sounds a bit like Tom Waits). This album proved their seemingly endless ability to astonish audiences with never-before-heard sounds and styles one wouldn’t imagine them to use. The unique complexities of a lot of the rhythms would have drummers absolutely geeking. This album is perfect for anyone looking for a highly unique, surprising, and (at times) fun listening experience.