Today Xiu Xiu has released their newest LP effort, OH NO, out now on Polyvinyl. The album, which Jamie Stewart has described as being born of “betrayal,” but which ultimately led to a “profound rediscovery of community and friendship,” is a collection of duets and collaborations with a host of artists, including Chelsea Wolfe, Alice Bag, Haley Fohr of Circuit des Yeux, Owen Pallett, Twin Shadow, Deerhoof, Drab Majesty, Liars, Shearwater, and more. Along with the album release, Xiu Xiu returns today with a new video for “Sad Mezcalita,” a duet with Sharon Van Etten, who also makes a cameo in the video.
Describing the track, Stewart explains:
“Angela said to me, ‘you never write love songs.’ This song tried to do that and failed. To me, it became about how the fear of someone you love being killed or kidnapped or lost in the desert leads to a possessed certainty of those very fates. Wanting and needing and actually feeling love for someone when you know all along that it will end in the worst way imaginable. Sharon seemed like the only person I knew who could pull this conflict off without hesitation. The title is taken from a line in the Otis Redding song ‘I’ve Got Dreams to Remember,’ which is a love song that did not fail in its intent, but is still sad.”
Like previous visual efforts from OH NO like “Rumpus Room” and “A Bottle of Rum,” Xiu Xiu’s Angela Seo returns to direct here. This trilogy of videos might be seen as a murder mystery of a sort, and indeed Seo speaks to that when describing “Sad Mezcalita” as a “tribute to the loss, crime, bleakness, dreams, and tensions” at the heart of Jamie Stewart’s broken attempt to write a love song. While Seo’s video art continues to coalesce into a wonderfully warped vision, this newest installment might be her most compelling and evocative yet.
Don’t miss Xiu Xiu’s upcoming live Twitch interview with The Needle Drop on March 31st at 9pm ET.
