Album Review: Xiu Xiu - Dear God, I Hate Myself

It was always going to be interesting to see what would happen to Xiu Xiu post Caralee McElroy. With his distant cousin having left to join darkwave synth prose group Cold Cave, Jamie Stewart now lacks a tempering measure - McElroy always seemed to chasten his darkest visions and dilute his most macabre impurities with just an essence of calming influence. That's not saying that she held Stewart back in any way - but it was a refining impact that that made albums like the Air Force and La Foret so necessarily more refined and disciplined than the comparatively loose Knife Play and A Promise.

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