Xiu Xiu

The Air Force
5RC, 2006

Xiu Xiu records are some of the most consistently bleak to pass through magazine review piles. The themes they cover are often personal and uncomfortably frank, including such party favourites as suicide, AIDS, sadomasochism, war, sexuality and emotional desperation. Jamie Stewart and Caralee McElroy's history is as disturbing as the music, which goes some way as an explanation. Shortly after the release of their first album Knife Play, Stewart's father – who was also a singer – killed himself. Since then the pair have revelled in the grotesque. On the cover of 2004's disturbing Fabulous Muscles, Stewart was seen posing with a stuffed toy named Dr Phil that he used to teach pre-school classes with. The refrain of the title song was: "Cremate me after you cum on my lips/ Honey boy, place my ashes in a vase/ Beneath your workout bench."

Over the last eight years the pair have hollowed out a unique space in the indie soundscape with a mix of electronica, experimental noise and folk. The Air Force continues in the style of its predecessor La Foret, with the band's electronic clangs and more traditional rock and acoustic sounds swirled together rather than separated. It’s also slightly more accessible than usual, produced by Greg Saunier from fellow Californian experimental band Deerhoof. McElroy, Stewart’s cousin, flautist and percussionist, sings on 'Hello From Eau Claire', a tinkly, jewellery-box tune with a dose of childish bravado and gender-bending: "I can buy my own cigarettes, I can pluck my own moustache/ I read it's lame to wish that you won’t walk out on me."

Stewart is at his best on 'Boy Soprano' and 'The Pineapple Vs The Watermelon', an obscure track that seems to be about his father's death. "Someone felt something pure and told it all to you," he reasons, and "that was why you killed yourself, to prove it wasn’t true." The lines which follow sum up the world Xiu Xiu inhabit: "Say hello to Cory's mum, say hello to Freddy's mum, say hello to Ryan's mum..." It is plainly odd that a record like this should be plastered with an endorsement from The New York Times. For a group who were once described as having to worry less about selling out than losing their fans to suicide, Xiu Xiu have come further than anyone anticipated.

Andrew Ramadge is on holidays. This is a mash-up of pieces written about Xiu Xiu between 2004-06.