xiu-xiu-into-the-night-singles-going-steady

Xiu Xiu – “Into the Night” (Singles Going Steady)

Xiu Xiu bring their characteristic experimental noise to a Twin Peaks soundtrack tribute.

Chris Ingalls: Xiu Xiu bring their characteristic experimental noise to a Twin Peaks soundtrack tribute. As expected, a weird band paying tribute to a weird director works pretty well. Everything is pretty laid-back and ambient until the noise factor grows and about two-thirds into this epic, it actually becomes melodic, in a shoegazey kind of way. It’s definitely something you need to be in the mood for, but they do a nice job. [7/10]

Emmanuel Elone: Technically, “Into the Night” is two tracks, the seven minute “Nightsea Wind” and the five minute “Into the Night”. In many way, though, “Nightsea Wind” only serves as a transitioning track into “Into the Night”, as its ambient aesthetic builds and composes itself so the next song can tear everything to pieces. This makes “Nightsea Wind” somewhat one dimensional within the Xiu Xiu catalog, but the group makes up for it on the next song. As soon as it begins, the noises that simply floated in empty space go frantic, jumping and flying around at random until the chaos simply overpowers the song. One thing I appreciate, though, is that there is a constant melody and rhythm underneath it all, helping to lead the listener through the song. There are some elements of “Into the Night” that make it somewhat pretentious (such as the overacted vocal performance), but Xiu Xiu come through with a great song that stands up to their past work. [7/10]

Chad Miller: The music here is decently unsettling. The vocals add nice layers to the song, switching between a calmer sound and an exaggeratedly emotive tone. I’m not sure how necessary the guitar barrage section was considering it only lasted a few seconds, and the song was already in the sort of space it transitioned to. Overall, the song seems a little bit indulgent in its inclusions, but when it has time to settle into one sound, the tune is really enjoyable. [7/10]

Pryor Stroud: Xiu Xiu’s “Into the Night” is introduced by “Nightsea Wind”, a pooling weave of avant electronica that casts out various emotional substrata through depth, texture, and modulated synth tones. Like a roll of Warholian experimental film, it asks you not only to examine the text itself (i.e. the film, the track), but to turn inward, to drift off and let your unconscious reactions to the text overcome you. But then “Into the Night” begins, and it’s impossible to turn away: its haunting cinematic qualities and cryptic vocal emit a striking ominousness, resembling a mash-up of scores from various John Carpenter and Nicholas Winding Refn films. [7/10]

SCORE: 7.00