{"id":962,"date":"2010-06-03T08:00:50","date_gmt":"2010-06-03T14:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stylusmagazine.ca\/?p=962"},"modified":"2010-06-03T08:00:50","modified_gmt":"2010-06-03T14:00:50","slug":"review-xiu-xiu-dear-god-i-hate-myself","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/2010\/06\/03\/review-xiu-xiu-dear-god-i-hate-myself\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Xiu Xiu – Dear God, I Hate Myself"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Xiu Xiu\u2019s Jamie Stewart has never shied away from difficult emotional topics. The last six albums from this band have all featured heart-on-sleeve lyrics, imbuing an incredible pathos that runs contrary to the dense, often cold pop arrangements that have typically characterized Stewart\u2019s catalogue. Dear God, I Hate Myself<\/em> continues that brashness, a record full of thick post-modern instrumentation, the occasional fuzzy guitar, and Stewart\u2019s quivering vocals, which bounce between almost-crooning and arty shoegazing. It\u2019s a record as weird and engaging as anything else this group has released but remarkably more self-aware and mature. The record title alone may lead most listeners to believe that Stewart\u2019s actually gained a sense of humour, and they wouldn\u2019t be wrong. Opener \u201cGray Death\u201d sees Stewart crying \u201cIf you expect me to be outrageous\/ I will be extra-outrageous,\u201d while colourful electronics whirr in the background in classic verse-chorus-verse formation, capturing Xiu Xiu\u2019s best ironic imitation of mainstream pop. Similarly, \u201cChocolate Makes You Happy\u201d and \u201cThis Too Shall Pass Away (For Freddy)\u201d feature some infectious refrains\u2014despite the lyrical themes of bulimia suicide\u2014that still manage to stand up as some of the best songs of Stewart\u2019s career. It\u2019s the sound of a man is trying to have more fun. Dear God, I Hate Myself <\/em>is still very much a Xiu Xiu album, but instantly more accessible and immediate than anything the band has done before. (Kill Rock Stars, www.killrockstars.com<\/a>) Kevan Hannah<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Xiu Xiu\u2019s Jamie Stewart has never shied away from difficult emotional topics. The last six albums from this band have all featured heart-on-sleeve lyrics, imbuing an incredible pathos that runs contrary to the dense, often cold pop arrangements that have typically characterized Stewart\u2019s catalogue. Dear God, I Hate Myself continues that brashness, a record full […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=962"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/962\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}