Xiu Xiu has been one of the mostly quietly prolific bands of the 2000s. Since 2002, Jamie Stewart’s baroque experimental pop outfit has been not making headlines making consistently rewarding avant-pop albums punctuated by Stewart’s spine-tingling wail and raw production style.
Dear God, I Hate Myself is no exception to Stewart’s rule of excellent albums, but there are two things missing in this collection of fifteen songs that just won’t stop niggling me: cohesion and spontaneity.
The former is forgivable. While I prefer an album that holds me close while it sashays around moods, tempos, chords and rhythms, I’ll take a consistent if not meandering collection of experimental pop songs any day of the week.
The latter is less so. Stewart has obviously matured over the last eight years, but his music reflects that maturity in an obvious way that hinders the album emotionally. On Dear God, I Hate Myself, Stewart has seemingly eschewed noise, atmosphere and catharsis in favour of precision in the form of relatively uncluttered, straightforward three-minute songs.
In the case of most artists, this would be a good thing, but not for Xiu Xiu; their characteristic emotion-driven caterwaul was one of the band’s best distinguishing features. Like Bright Eyes before him, Stewart was able to express himself almost without restraint, which for the listener was strangely co-cathartic (if that is a thing). It follows, then, that the most unfettered songs, like the jerky “House Sparrow” and the mid-tempo stomp of “The Fabrizio Palumbo Retaliation,” are among the strongest here.
That said, there are no filler tracks here, so yeah, Dear God, I Hate Myself is another success for Xiu Xiu. But with just a little more of that unbridled expression, it could’ve been even better.
