Xiu Xiu @ Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh, 5 Jun

Xiu Xiu have stood for 20 years as an unquantifiable entity. Never has their capacity for shape-shifting and penchant for adapting to any given situation been more clear than during their live shows; little, beyond the physical presence of the three musicians (and perhaps a tendency to lean into chaos), remains consistent from song to song. One minute a synth bass is looming over Jamie Stewart’s erratic talk-singing, the next minute the crowd is bouncing to a song that wouldn’t feel out of place in the radio rock charts. 

Opening with Pahrump off their 2023 album Ignore Grief, Stewart wastes no time in staking his claim for having the most emotive voice in music. As he yelps and howls, his voice breaks as and when it wants, and enticingly invites us into a harrowing world. The drumming of David Kendrick is frantic and powerful, as if he fears the kit will collapse in on itself before he has the chance to bash out some world-saving epithet. The synths of Angela Seo attack the room, piercing and thrumming through the bodies of the captivated audience.

The trio are content with eerily long silences between songs, up to a minute at a time with no speech, interrupted only by the odd click of a pedal or the thump of a guitar being put down. There’s enough sound during each rendition of their songs to cover for these mood-appropriate uncomfortable hushes. Apistat Commander is crammed fuller with throbbing electronics than the album version. Falling and Ceremony, from Angelo Badalamenti and Julee Cruise’s Soundtrack to Twin Peaks, and New Order’s Substance display the band’s ability to put any song through the Xiu Xiu machine and have it come out fully deformed and wonderful in its own way.

After a truly devastating performance of Ian Curtis Wishlist – typified by the inimitable self-loathing of the scream “Do you love me, Jamie Stewart?” – the nether zone of sonic wasteland between songs is broken. Hilariously contrasting the deep darkness of the prior moments, Stewart smiles, waves like a gleeful child and over and over again states his very genuine gratitude for the crowd’s support of his incredible, odd and beautiful band.