Xiu Xiu: La Foret (jade eco-mix vinyl) [5RC]

Why you'll love it

This 5RC reissue comes on jade eco-mix vinyl with lyrics, back on vinyl for the first time in fifteen years. La Forêt scored 82 on Metacritic, the band's highest-rated album there, and Entertainment Weekly and Stylus both gave it an A minus.

This edition

• Jade eco-mix vinyl
• Lyrics included

About the album

Xiu Xiu have made louder records and stranger ones, but La Forêt may be the one that gets under your skin most quietly. Jamie Stewart and producer Cory McCulloch, now joined by Caralee McElroy, blend post-punk, gamelan, synth pop, folk and noise into something harsh and beautiful at once, with Stewart's trembling voice at the centre of every song.

The supporting cast is a small chamber orchestra. Deerhoof's John Dieterich, Ches Smith on vibraphone and drums, Devra Hoff on double bass, Ben Goldberg on clarinets, Alan Wiley on tuba and Marika Hughes on cello all play, with string arrangements by Sam Mickens. "Saturn" draws on Goya's painting Saturn Devouring His Son, "Bog People" was written late at night during a thunderstorm, and "Clover," "Pox" and "Yellow Raspberry" show how much menace the band can fit into a whisper.

Pitchfork gave it 7.9 and Drowned in Sound an 8, and it came out on 5 Rue Christine, the label that put out the band's first two albums. "Muppet Face" takes its name from a friend's cat, which also stars in the animated video; few cats can say the same.

Also at Kops: more Xiu Xiu on vinyl · browse Alternative

Tracklist

Listen

On 5 Rue Christine, a reissue of the 2005 album.