Xiu Xiu are not a band to shy away from trying something new. Embracing everything from harsh noise to almost accessible synth pop, they’re exactly the kind of band you would expect to take on a project like this.

 

The program everyone is handed before the show starts is an indicator of the deep reverence the music being performed is being held in. With a blurb describing Xiu Xiu’s own connection to the music as well as a set list, its something you’re more likely to be given going into a classical performance at the Royal Festival Hall than at a rock gig. ‘This music is important, treat it with respect’ seems to be the message; you should hold Angelo Badalamenti’s score on the same level as Brahms or Mozart.

 

Generally the set is strongest when they don’t stray to far from the original soundtrack. ‘Falling’, a version of the shows title theme with a vocal part originally sung by Julee Cruise, sounds absolutely transcendental when they allow the song to reach its climatic emotional swell. Something they seem to actively resist in their renditions of ‘Laura Palmer’s theme’ and ‘Love Theme’. When these songs should be gushing with melodrama they’re suddenly become oddly muted. The simple brilliance of ‘Harold’s Theme’ is respectfully stripped back, sadly swaying between its two chords, it feels totally unnecessary to add or subtract anything from it.

 

Their rendition of ‘Sycamore Trees’ isn’t anything short of breathtaking. Xiu Xiu’s front man Jamie Stewart’s body contorts and tenses with emotion, singing through gritted teeth like he is forcing the sound out of his body. His face oozes sweat and seems to drip from his chin in globs. The slow, drawn out jazzy chords and Stewarts wincing croon almost brings to mind the haunted performance of ‘Strange Fruit’ by Billie Holiday, its that emotional wrought.

 

There are a few odder choices however. The quietly unsettling muzak of ‘Audrey’s Theme’ is shrouded in bleeps and zaps like the sound effects from some mad scientist lab. The final song is an eerie reading of an extract from Laura Palmers diary, as if fades out Stewart suddenly launches into a rendition of ‘Mairzy Doats’, a novelty song well known to fans of Twin Peaks when its sung by Leland Palmer in the show. Much like its use in the TV show it’s an incredibly creepy moment that demonstrates what fundamental makes the world of Twin Peaks so alluring. It turns something that on the surface is totally innocent and manages to imbue it with a profound sense of dread.

 

If you came to tonight’s show purely as a Twins Peaks fan, which I’m sure many did, you might be a bit bewildered by some of the more atonal and noisy approaches Xiu Xiu take on the music. The performance is actually pretty similar to my own slightly ambivalent experience of watching Twin Peaks, the brief moments of indifference and boredom fluctuate with the ecstatic bliss of realising you really might be watching some kind of genius at work.

Louis Ormesher
Photos: Tom Barlow Brown