So what can be said of a group, led by the ever prolific Jamie Stewart, named Xiu Xiu doing a cover album of one of the most influential, stand out female jazz vocalist of all time, namely Nina Simone? Let me tell you, while a dark, experimental avant-pop group like Xiu Xiu (pronounced shoo-shoo, or more accurately something more akin to shiow shiow in Mandarin) is definitely NOT everybody’s cup of tea, a great deal most certainly can be said for the courage and vision it took for this group to completely re-imagine these songs while still paying sincere homage to the late jazz legend Simone. And remarkably, even though jazz purists might be put off by an album of this nature, Xiu Xiu (who are in no way a jazz standards band) were able to pull off using this group of jazz songs to make what can only be described as a Xiu Xiu album. And if this means nothing to you, let me explain.
To start, the album is sonically constructed of mostly traditional instruments, highlighting horns, guitar and keys. Many times the arrangements sound fairly close to a traditional jazz sound, but there is a definitive twinge of the avant-garde that builds to unstructured eruptions throughout a number of the pieces. Think Ornette Coleman doing backup for Tom Waits. The percussion is sparse and minimal, at times being little more than an occasional click or steady chop. And then there are the vocals. Being a tribute to a jazz vocalist, the spotlight and driving force of this album is the vocal delivery. Objectively, the sound of the vocals can be described as deep and breathy, whispered and quivering, as if sung by someone on the edge, lovesick and broken. But it gets deeper. It sounds as if Stewart has conjured the dark brooding essence of the powerful sacred feminine that is present on the perimeter of all of Nina Simone’s works. At times he sounds as if he is not just channeling this energy into these songs but even casting a wicked spell, damning the ones who have betrayed and degraded women throughout time. This is a musical journey into a dark and foreign land, riddled with many strange and unexpected sights.
While it can be off-putting and quite challenging for the uninitiated, there is much reward for opening up to this music. Stewart and long-time collaborator Ches Smith — “the only person I know who could understand this in his heart and also handle the technical side of fearlessly reorienting such wonderful music” — bring Simone into focus through their own avant-dark lens. “The idea came being back stage in Austin TX, opening for Swans and feeling like I did not play well,” Stewart explains. The night before, he and Swans’ Michael Gira had discussed Simone, their love both for her talent as a musician and her fearlessness as a civil rights activist, and how Simone inspired them to make better work. Feeling down on himself, yet inspired both by the memory of Simone and the “epic and beautiful persistence” of Gira and Swans, Stewart decided to honor Simone and challenge himself in making NINA.
To that end, NINA was recorded in just one day, all in first or second takes. In doing so, Stewart captured the immediacy of the feelings that inspired the record, but it was also a practical decision. Stewart is a busy man. In the next year alone he has a new full-length Xiu Xiu record coming out, along with other planned releases, and an event with conceptual artist Danh Vo at Milwaukee’s Walker Arts Center in October. Last month, he wrapped up another performance, “Dark Materials,” with visual artist Monika Grzymala and choreographer Jeremy Wade at Hamburg’s Internationales Sommerfestival and he’s also been busy touring with Swans and working with Eugene Robinson from Oxbow on their side project, Sal Mineo.
So is this album worth a listen? Well, let me put it to you this way: is conceptual visual art worth looking at or trying to understand? While it is not mainstream or accessible in the way that say a work by Van Gogh or Picasso might be, if viewed through the right lens or personal perspective it can potentially be deeply impacting and meaningful. In fact, much of what is considered “mainstream” in art today and can be seen on everything from coffee mugs to postcards and calendars, was at one time considered cutting edge and quite avant-garde. The same applies with this album and style of music as a whole. It can be difficult and challenging, but ultimately very unpredictable and rewarding if given a chance.
NINA will be released on December 3, 2013 on Graveface Records
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