Xiu Xiu
The experimental pop band Xiu Xiu, which is pronounced shoe-shoe, will be playing tonight, Wednesday the 19th, at Le Poisson Rouge in New York City. They released their sixth album this year titled, Women As Lovers. Singer songwriter Jamie Stewart formed the band in 2000 and took the name from the Chinese film Xiu Xiu: The Sent Down Girl, which translates into “heaven bath”. This 1998 film, about a 15 year old girl who learns about life and love through a corrupted government where she is forced to submit her body for the sexual pleasure of officials, is not far swaying from the issues Stewart sings through his lyrics. Poetry of suicide, war, love, lovelessness, and aids are woven into sounds of ambient noise and modern classical instrumentation. In regards to their pop influence Jamie Stewart says, “all the songs are about sadness and trying to dance it away.”
