OH NO

Nearly everyone, musicians included, longed for connection in 2020, but not many incorporated it into their work as purposefully as Xiu Xiu's Jamie Stewart and Angela Seo. Following 2019's Girl with a Basket of Fruit, several of Stewart's personal and professional relationships ended suddenly, spurring him to reach out to some of his nearest and dearest friends, many of whom join him and Seo on Oh No's duets. While some of Xiu Xiu's finest songs have featured other vocalists alongside Stewart, more often they've excelled at music that embodies alienation and isolation in ways that make their fans feel less alone in their own lives. On Oh No, Seo and Stewart put a little bit of hope in companionship and humanity, and the results are more than merely therapeutic. These collaborations present a calmer, more introspective incarnation of Xiu Xiu than the one that appeared on Girl with a Basket of Fruit, but the band never sound complacent. Frequently, Stewart, Seo, and their guests play with the different ways two voices can complement each other within a song. On "Sad Mezcalita," Stewart and Sharon Van Etten's exchanges resemble a conversation, even as the song's choruses reach for the heavens; on "I Cannot Resist," Stewart's shaky but resilient calls are met by responses from a majestic choir of voices including Drab Majesty's Deb Demure; and on "Saint Dymphna," the intertwining of Stewart's voice with Twin Shadow's George Lewis, Jr. makes for one of the album's loveliest moments. Of course, it wouldn't be a Xiu Xiu album without some boundary pushing. With Fabrizio Modonese Palumbo, the band focus on the most experimental aspects of their music on "A Classic Screw," and the riot of noise that tears through the album's title track (a collaboration with actor/director Susanne Sachsse) becomes liberating. The heartache from the separations that sparked the album reverberates throughout all of Oh No, but reaches a peak on the caustic version of the Cure's "One Hundred Years," which finds Stewart and Chelsea Wolfe magnifying the anguish of the original. Several other pairings are nearly as inspired: Angus Andrew brings some of Liars' knotty percussion and angular outbursts to "Rumpus Room," while the Owen Pallett duet "I Dream of Someone Else Entirely" is one of the more graceful songs here. All of Xiu Xiu's collaborators honor the bravery and vulnerability of their music, and as Oh No comes to a close, its feeling of hopefulness grows with "A Bottle of Rum," a radiant duet with Grouper's Liz Harris. Embodying hard times as well as the way friends lift each other out of them, Oh No also exemplifies the drama, mystery, and deeply felt emotions that have made Xiu Xiu a vital musical force for decades. ~ Heather Phares