In 2016, with the blessing of David Lynch and Angelo Badalamenti, Xiu Xiu released and toured the surprisingly successful album and concert, Plays the Music of Twin Peaks. Out of respect and deference to the beloved series, the band decided to put the concert to rest in 2018. After the recent and untimely passing of David Lynch, Xiu Xiu began to receive several high-profile requests to revive their interpretation of this iconic music. However, in wanting to always try to follow, honor, and continue to be inspired by the incredibly high bar of artistic challenge set by Lynch, Xiu Xiu is instead going deeper. Eraserhead Xiu Xiu is a new live concert with an accompanying film and full-length album that uses field recordings, concert-specific homemade instruments, organ, modular synths, vocals, flashlights, electrical interference, and elements of musique concrète to express the bizarre emotionality, conflicted sexuality, relentless darkness, and singularly unsettled moonscape of this most incredible of midnight masterpieces. The album itself is a masterpiece in sound collage and experimentation, with tracks like “Tetra” and “Sleep Synth” shifting from minimal auditory sensations to a clobbering, grotesque cacophony. The album’s closing track, “In Heaven,” is a beautiful rendition of Peter Ivers’ original composition, with Stewart’s delicate and soft vocals showcasing the elegance and wonder found in Lynch’s directorial debut, Eraserhead. Eraserhead’s original sound design and score by Alan Splet and Lynch guide Xiu Xiu’s expanded interpretation, reflecting their influence as fans and musicians. The original film gives birth to Xiu Xiu’s visual lens, through which audiences are baffled and pummeled by the band’s imaginary unused auxiliary footage. Is it a short-term art installation, an exploded tribute to a cinematic triumph, an epitaph to an idol via an entirely new work? Yes. Is it intense, odd, curious, and shrouded in the gloomiest of nights? Of course. After all, it is Eraserhead.
