Xiu Xiu have announced a new covers album, Xiu Mutha Fuckin’ Xiu: Vol. 1, to be released on 16 January via Polyvinyl.
The record sees the longstanding experimental outfit interpreting the likes of Talking Heads, Robyn, Throbbing Gristle, Soft Cell and more.
Said the band’s Jamie Stewart: “We have a long history of doing covers and have done 3 albums of covers. The enduring and basic throughline with all of them is an attempt to say thank you to those songs. They are all in one way or another pieces of music that have moved us and exploring them in a deep way is a small honorific offering to the muse that created them. We never approach them thinking ‘How can we improve these’ but really “What can we learn from these?’”
The band have shared two tastes of the record today, a version of The Runaways’ ‘Cherry Bomb’, and Daniel Johnston’s ‘Some Things Last A Long Time’. You can hear both below.
Stewart said of the covers: “Unexpectedly I (forgive this melodramatic admission) cried while singing the Daniel Johnston song. If there ever were a sincere and wounded voice in the world it is his.” On Joan Jett, they added: “I love Joan Jett and I love being bad and this song is all about both.”
Xiu Mutha Fuckin’ Xiu Vol. 1 is released on 16 January via Polyvinyl and can be pre-ordered here. The tracklist is as follows:
‘Psycho Killer’ [Talking Heads]
‘Warm Leatherette’ [The Normal / Grace Jones]
‘I Put a Spell on You’ [Screamin’ Jay Hawkins]
‘Hamburger Lady’ [Throbbing Gristle]
‘In Dreams’ [Roy Orbison]
‘Sex Dwarf’ [Soft Cell]
‘Dancing On My Own’ [Robyn]
‘SPQR’ [This Heat]
‘Lick Or Sum’ [GloRilla]
‘Some Things Last A Long Time’ [Daniel Johnston]
‘Triple Sun’ [Coil]
‘Cherry Bomb’ [The Runaways]
