Xiu Xiu fractured indie pop, ground it to powder and blew the dust into faces of a loving extroverted society on the early albums Knife Play (2002), their masterpiece, and close behind, A Promise (2003) with Fabulous Muscles (2004) and La forêt (2005) acting as simulations of the first two. The Air Force (2006) and Women As Lovers (2008) began the process of streamlining the madness, and Dear God, I Hate Myself (2010) was a result of Xiu Xiu’s psychopathic appetite for pop music turned on itself.
Always went even further than Dear God, I Hate Myself to make an album full of boring and predictable electronic pop songs, two words that could not have been uttered in the early 2000s about anything that had Xiu Xiu on it. “I Hate Abortion” has some of the adorable violence, the cornerstone to a great Xiu Xiu track either directly or indirectly, that made the early albums special.
“The Oldness” is a solemn ballad for piano. “Chimney’s Afire (Mickensian Suicide)” is a shadow of the former harrowing tales. “Factory Girl” has some of the spirit from earlier confessionals. “Black Drum Machine” sounds like a lost demo. The rest is typical dance pop that was mocked, destroyed, and rearranged by a different band of the same name a long time ago in a land far, far away.
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