| The Air Force is the latest release from Jamie Stewart’s Xiu Xiu. Collaborator (and cousin) Caralee McElroy joins him once again taking on part of the vocal and instrument duties, as well as contributing lead vocals to a full song (“Hello From Eau Claire”). Additional instrumentation on several of the tracks was provided by Deerhoof’s Greg Saunier. The album was produced by the artist themselves, with Stewart, McElroy, and Saunier all sharing the responsibility.
While The Air Force is probably the band’s most accessible album, full of poppy hooks and classic song structure, it is still an album full of experimentation. I found it took a few listens until I really started to appreciate the album and its various layers. My initial thought was that Air Force is decent, but nothing terribly exciting. After subsequent playings, however, I came to realize that this may be one of the best albums of 2006. Musically this is one of the strongest Xiu Xiu albums to date.
“Boy Soprano” could easily be on everyone’s favorite songs list of this year. The mangled notes at the song’s inception sound as if they could be the noises of an accordion being molested. Jamie Stewart then reassures us with, “Look at me nothing bad is ever / going to happen to you again.” The song is accessible and poppy while, at the same time, scattered and painfully sad. From “Boy Soprano” we move to the poppiest moment on the album, the gender-play track “Hello From Eau Claire”. While it still fits into the Xiu Xiu mold, the track doesn’t fit 100%. This is not to say that it is not a strong track, but while it is a great song in its own right, and I hope to hear more of Caralee taking the lead on future Xiu Xiu albums, “Hello From Eau Claire” does not seem to fit into the rest of this album as well as I would have liked.
The next three tracks I can’t help but lump together. “Vulture Piano” and “Bishop, CA” are probably the two best tracks on the album. Great lyrics, great music. Before “Vulture Piano” falls apart into a beautiful mess of noise, Stewart lets out one of his tortured yelps -- a la “I Love the Valley OH!” -- an outburst of pure emotion that only helps add to the song. “Bishop, CA” opens with the lyrics, “This blue dot of sickly light / that is daytime in your embarrassed town/ burns a hole in the fading yellow ribbon / on your fading wine colored Cavalier.” Lyrics don’t get much better than that. The electro-orchestral sound that washes over you before the chorus of “walla walla walla walla walla hey” and bursts into the industrial glitch that ends the song is pure bliss.
“PJ in the Streets” has the unfortunate position of being sandwiched between these two songs. Of course with those songs towering over it, “PJ in the Streets” just doesn’t have a chance to shine. “Wig Master”, the final and longest track on the album, is a hauntingly beautiful song. The somber music is the saddest this album has to offer. It is the perfect album ender.
I don’t think there is one bad song on The Air Force. “Saint Pedro Glue Stick,” which only clocks in at a mere 1:17 and can be almost viewed as an intro to “The Pineapple Vs The Watermelon,” is probably the weakest moment on The Air Force, but it can stand alone if it needed to and it definitely works well where it is placed.
Yet again, Xiu Xiu delivers a fantastic record of pain, heartbreak, love, death and sex... in only the way that Jamie Stewart can. Reviewed
by: Tom Gilbert
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