Review: Xiu Xiu, The Lantern

With David Lynch’s trend-setting, mind-bending cult TV phenomenon Twin Peaks set to make its return in either 2016 or 2017 (confirmation is typically murky), interest in the show, as well as its hypnotic score by Angelo Badalamenti, couldn’t be greater. And Saturday night at Bristol’s Colston Hall saw ‘noisepop’ group Xiu Xiu step up to the podium to turn Badalamenti’s haunting melodies inside out, fusing their own tortured stylings with the latter’s percolating sense of mystery.

Formed in 2002 by Jamie Stewart, the group derives its name from Joan Chen’s 1998 Chinese film Xiu Xiu: The Sent Down Girl and has garnered a cult following through its brooding soundscape that ranges from ethereal and elegiac to twisted and terrifying. The band therefore turns out to be the ideal Twin Peaks soul mate, given that Badalamenti’s score is equally famous for zipping between genres including ominous synth pop and deceptively finger-snapping jazz.

As for the show itself, it was an appropriately theatrical and bizarre spectacle, of which Lynch would no doubt have approved (the great man himself actually commissioned the performance). With the ensemble consisting of a xylophone, drum kit, synthesiser, keyboard and electric guitar (plus a host of variously quirky mouth-piece instruments), frontman Stewart, along with band members Angela Seo and Yvonne Chen, hovered around the stage taking charge of the various components and crafting the sort of brooding soundscape that has generated its own fanbase.

Highlights included the centrepiece Laura Palmer’s Theme being embellished by the intense Stewart’s furious cymbal clashes and Chen’s ethereal xylophone; and the addition of Stewart’s agonised vocals to Badalamenti’s famous main theme, the singer often appearing as a man possessed as he grabbed the mic and rolled his eyes back in his head. Frequently, he lunged down to grab a cup of what may or may not have been a damn fine cup of coffee. With audience interaction non-existent and atmosphere being the absolute key, it was hard to tell.

If Badalamenti’s eerie nuances occasionally threatened to get lost amidst Xiu Xiu’s emphatic stylings, there was an undeniable synergy between two equally dark soundscapes, the most unnerving kind of kindred musical spirit bursting to life on stage. When the show concluded with a chilling live reading of Laura Palmer’s diary (complete with bell ringing), the audience was on tenterhooks waiting for the dreaded Bob to appear. Thankfully, he didn’t – but the spirit of both Lynch and Badalamenti’s groundbreaking work was very much alive. It was both a beautiful dream and a terrible nightmare.