Daiana Feuer on December 6th, 2018

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Xiu Xiu introduces their new album, “Girl with Basket of Fruit,” out Feb. 8 on Polyvinyl Record Co., with “Scisssssssors,” a song that quite neatly invokes the feel and pace of nightmares. Jittery and mathematically frenetic, it’s like being chased in a dream that keeps shifting and there’s no escaping the disembodied voice that probably wants to eat your soul. It’s dark stuff, but these are dark days.

Produced by Xiu Xiu’s Angela Seo and Greg Saunier of Deerhoof, the song and album reflect the tense emotions consuming everyday life in the current political/social condition. The band at the moment includes Thor Harris, Jordan Geiger, Angela Seo and Jamie “Butch Jenny” Stewart. Seo and Stewart appear in the “Scisssssssors” video, the first of a three-part video series co-directed by Seo exploring ritual, myth, and beliefs, with some motifs from previous Xiu Xiu videos thrown in the mix with film and music references they find compelling and/or disturbing. Disturbing is definitely the general mood in this confrontational piece of catharsis, especially when that string goes through Seo’s tongue.

||| Watch: “Scisssssssors”

||| Live: Xiu Xiu’s Jamie Stewart performs a solo set Dec. 7 at El Cid with Tearist and Elliot Reed. Tickets