Xiu Xiu
Fortune Teller

THE REVIEW

2012 was a highly prolific year for the duo Jamie Stewart/Angela Seo. 

After an album ("Always") that, although not among their best, grows with every listen, step by step, a beautiful cover of "Always" by Erasure, which ended up on a split with the Dirty Beaches, and a couple of noise improvisation instrumental pieces ("Quagga" and "Lil What's Your Problem"), the disorienting genius of Stewart quietly releases this twenty-one-minute composition.

Twenty-one minutes as heavy as a boulder. The piece, "Fortune Teller" is the exact antithesis of everything that the eternal child from San José has produced during this explosive year for his erratic creativity. 

"Fortune Teller" is a mantra. A chain repetition of probabilities, whispered, a cappella, in the vast desolation of a dark corner of one's heart.
No instrument to disturb it, except in the last few minutes, where a slight electronic interference further strips away the timbre.
A repeated prayer, without the slightest hint of singing, which is the symbol of a sadness that brushes against and strips the flesh. 

A rotten and disorienting spell that starts in the absolute non-musicality of the operation, until, unconsciously, the persistent repetition of "No, No, No/Yes, Yes, Yes/Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps/Maybe, Maybe, Maybe" turns into a rhythm of its own. 
Impossible to evaluate, at least from a musical standpoint, because it's not music, but at the same time it is, it's just not clear what it is. And in the end, there are two possibilities: either get pissed off and immediately turn off the CD player, or grasp the whispered despair, let it sink in, suffocate you. Then, break down in tears, jesting about the void that surrounds us.

Everything is probable.
Nothing is certain.

YES. YES. YES.

NO. NO. NO.

PERHAPS.

PERHAPS.

PERHAPS.