''Forget'' (stylized in

all caps In typography, text or font in all caps (short for "all capitals") contains capital letters without any lowercase letters. For example: All-caps text can be seen in legal documents, advertisements, newspaper headlines, and the titles on book co ...

) is the tenth studio album by

experimental An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs whe ...

band

Xiu Xiu Xiu Xiu ( ) is an American experimental rock band, formed in 2002 by singer-songwriter Jamie Stewart in San Jose, California. Currently, the line-up consists of multi-instrumentalists Stewart (the only constant member since formation), Angel ...

, released on February 24, 2017. Produced by

John Congleton John Congleton is a grammy winning American record producer, engineer, mixer, writer and musician. In addition to his production work, Congleton has fronted the alternative rock band The Paper Chase, and writes music for a newer project entitl ...

Greg Saunier Gregory Lovell Saunier ( , born 18 May 1969) is a musician, producer, and composer best known as the drummer and founding member of Deerhoof. ''Rolling Stone'' included Saunier alongside Brian Chippendale (of Lightning Bolt) and Zach Hill ( ...

, and

Angela Seo Hyunhye Seo, professionally known as Angela Seo, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and vocalist best known for her role in American experimental band Xiu Xiu. Seo joined Xiu Xiu in 2009, and has contributed to every studio ...

, it features contributions from

Charlemagne Palestine Chaim Moshe Tzadik Palestine (born August 15, 1947), known professionally as Charlemagne Palestine, is an American visual artist and musician. He has been described as being one of the founders of New York school of minimalist music, first initia ...

Kristof Hahn Kristof Hahn (also known as Christoph Hahn; born 6 February 1959) is a German guitarist, composer and translator. Hahn is best known for his lap steel guitar playing in the New York experimental rock band Swans. He joined the band in 1989 to t ...

Vaginal Davis Vaginal Davis (born in Los Angeles, California) is an American performer, painter, independent curator, composer, film-maker and writer. Born intersex and raised in South Central, Los Angeles, Davis gained notoriety in New York during the 1980s ...

, and Enyce Smith.

Background

The album cover bears Arabic calligraphy that translates to "we forget". Xiu Xiu leader Jamie Stewart has stated that the album cover has no meaning besides that "it looks beautiful" and is not meant as a political statement: "in hoping to depoliticize it, I suppose that it becomes political." "Petite" and "Faith, Torn Apart" are about women used in

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. The title was further explained by Stewart: “To forget uncontrollably embraces the duality of human frailty. It is a rebirth in blanked out renewal but it also drowns and mutilates our attempt to hold on to what is dear.” In a press release, the album was marketed as the band's "most direct engagement with pop music".

Critical reception

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 78 based on 11 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Andrew Paschal of ''

PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, ...

'' gave the album 8 stars out of 10, calling it "one of Xiu Xiu's poppiest and most accessible works to date".

Track listing

Personnel

;Xiu Xiu * Jamie Stewart – vocals, guitar, modular synthesizer, organ, programming *

– synthesizer, organ, percussion ;Additional personnel *

– vocals * Kristof Hahn – guitar * Tanisha Hall – vocals *

Devra Hoff Devra Hoff is an American bassist, composer, and arranger. She is a member of Sharon Van Etten & the Attachment Theory and co-founder of Mendoza Hoff Revels with Ava Mendoza. Career Hoff composed work for the ''Wholphin'' short film ''Look ...

– double bass * Chiara Lee – vocals *

– carillon *

– bass guitar, percussion, guitar, synthesizer, vocals, organ * Enyce Smith – commentary * Federico Zanatta – vocals

Charts

References

External links

* {{Authority control 2017 albums Xiu Xiu albums Polyvinyl Record Co. albums Albums produced by John Congleton