Xiu Xiu
The Air Force

THE REVIEW

Fifth studio effort for the brooding Jamie Stewart and his muse Caralee McElroy, joined on this occasion by Greg Saunier of Deerhoof (as producer and unofficial member).

The blend of post-wave baubles, of solemn classical openings violated by vitriolic bursts of synth pop and guitars, of post-rock experimentalism and variables from folk and cabaret music lights up the 11 tracks that compose “The Air Force,” perhaps with less intensity compared to masterpieces like “Knife Play” or “Fabulous Muscles,” but the results are always excellent. The group’s poetic nature remains intact, the usual “Ian Curtis Wishlist,” to quote one of the most famous tracks from the Californian group: the suffering interpretations of Jamie, his piercing lyrics between Dennis Cooper and Yukio Mishima, love and death chasing each other in a frantic shadow play. If anything, the sonic language in these grooves has further refined, digging out practically perfect moments of pop conciseness amidst the usual noisier tourbillon: “Boy Soprano,” for instance, which rests on a fantastic organ riff hypothesizing a futuristic Joy Division’s “Decades,” with a typically murky text (“pulling out a bat at the Kill Me Court /slaps me that I can't handle you /but yes no yes no yes /tell me how to live /boy soprano /take me away from here”) that seems to respond to Curtis’s famous question of that piece, “Here are the young men, where have they been?”.

Other highlights of sinister and oblique pop include the pianistic “Buzz Saw,” the twilight haiku “Hello From Eau Claire” (sung by Caralee), and especially “Vulture Piano” (a riff stolen from Johnny Marr and inserted into a piercing wall of sound) and “Save Me” (“She’s Lost Control” passed through a washing machine), excellent in demonstrating how no one like Jamie has been able to renew the new wave script in recent years.

There are certainly moments for those who miss the claustrophobic and twisted introversion of previous albums: surrealist mini-suites like “The Fox And The Rabbit” and “Pineapple vs. the Watermelon” captivate with their intertwining of violin, piano, and synthesizers, while the rarefied “Wig Master” closes the curtain, with the lights off, amidst soft music and lyrics like “Loneliness isn’t being alone/It’s when someone loves you/And you don’t have it in you to love them back”.

Certainly, Jamie Stewart has understood everything about love.