Ellen Lovell

There was a lot going on in New Jersey in 2006. Post-hardcore was hitting a peak on the Jersey scene, with bands like SENSES FAIL and THURSDAY dominating the top-8 friends list of every cool teenager with long black hair on Myspace. Somewhere in a New Jersey basement, Gerard Way was bleaching his hair white, preparing to unleash the most impactful rock album of the 21 st century into the world with their band, MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE. But away from the chaos and distortion of the post-hardcore...

In the twenty-four years that have passed since their formation, and through several line-up changes, personal losses and fifteen studio albums, experimental noise band XIU XIU (pronounced ‘shoo-shoo’) have become practised masters at stirring up dark, ugly feelings that would usually otherwise prefer to stay repressed. The bleak honesty and vulnerability of vocalist and founding member Jamie Stewart is a shaking hand holding a mirror for the listener to see themselves in, set amongst a...