''La Forêt'' is the fourth studio album by

Xiu Xiu Xiu Xiu ( ) is an American experimental band, formed in 2002 by singer-songwriter Jamie Stewart in San Jose, California. Currently, the line-up consists of Stewart (the only constant member since formation) and Angela Seo. The band's name co ...

, released on July 12, 2005 on 5 Rue Christine. The album features John Dieterich of

Deerhoof Deerhoof are an American musical group formed in San Francisco in 1994. They currently consist of founding drummer Greg Saunier, bassist and singer Satomi Matsuzaki, and guitarists John Dieterich and Ed Rodriguez. Beginning as an improvised noi ...

and

Devin Hoff Devin Hoff is an American bassist, composer and arranger. Hoff has collaborated with Julia Holter, Nels Cline, Sharon Van Etten, Shannon Lay, Cibo Matto, Kira Roessler, Good For Cows, Xiu Xiu, and others. Hoff has also released three albums ...

as contributors.Xiu Xiu – La Forêt (CD)

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the la ...

. Retrieved 9 July 2011.

Overview

''La Forêt's'' sound has been described as more subtle and less pop-sounding than Xiu Xiu's previous album ''

Fabulous Muscles ''Fabulous Muscles'' is the third album by American experimental band Xiu Xiu, released on February 17, 2004 on 5 Rue Christine. The album marked a change in the band's sound, described as a depressive mix between experimental rock and synth-pop. ...

.'' The album was seen as a return to the band’s earlier sound. The instrumentation includes

clarinet The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches ...

, string arrangements, and

vibraphone The vibraphone is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone is called a ''vibraphonist,'' ''vibraharpist,' ...

. Stewart said the tone of the album reflected his personal life where he began to internalize the difficult events that occurred around when ''Fabulous Muscles'' was recorded. He described the album as "about reflection and resignation and coming to a sort of resolution". Jamie Stewart described six main subjects of Xiu Xiu songs: family, politics, sex, love and lovelessness, and suicide. The song "Bog People" is about family and loss, and was written late at night while Stewart was in a bout of sadness and loneliness during a thunderstorm.Pitchfork Interviews: Xiu Xiu

Pitchfork Media ''Pitchfork'' (formerly ''Pitchfork Media'') is an American online music publication (currently owned by Condé Nast) that was launched in 1995 by writer Ryan Schreiber as an independent music blog. Schreiber started Pitchfork while working ...

. 9 April 2006. Retrieved 9 July 2011. The track "Saturn" is based on

Francisco Goya Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (; ; 30 March 174616 April 1828) was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker. He is considered the most important Spanish artist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. His paintings, drawings, and ...

's ''

Saturn Devouring His Son ''Saturn Devouring His Son'' is a painting by Spanish artist Francisco Goya. It is traditionally interpreted as a depiction of the Greek myth of the Titan Cronus (known as Saturn in Roman mythology) eating one of his offspring. Fearing a prop ...

'' and "wanting to rape" then-

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

"to death". Stewart had seen the former at the

Prado The Prado Museum ( ; ), officially known as Museo Nacional del Prado, is the main Spanish national art museum An art museum or art gallery is a building or space for the display of art, usually from the museum's own collection. It migh ...

during the 2004 U.S. presidential elections. "Muppet Face" was the name of a cat belonging to Jamie Stewart's friend. The cat died before the song was written. In the animated music video for "Muppet Face", the titular cat appears, with the tag "M.F." Xiuxiu1

Reception

''La Forêt'' received critical acclaim. On the review aggregate site

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, the album has a score of 82 out of 100, indicating "Universal acclaim."Critic Reviews for La Foret

Retrieved 5 July 2011. ''La Forêt'' is also Xiu Xiu's highest rated album on the site.Xiu Xiu Profile

. Retrieved 9 July 2011.

Stylus Magazine ''Stylus Magazine'' was an American online music and film magazine, launched in 2002 and co-founded by Todd L. Burns. It featured long-form music journalism, four daily music reviews, movie reviews, podcasts, an MP3 blog, and a text blog. Addi ...

's William S. Fields gave the album a grade of "A-," writing "''La Forêt'' has the sort of courage-minus-contrivance that is exceedingly (and ironically) rare in music of its dramatic and thematic ilk. For this reason, though I have enjoyed and admired many records this year, this is one of the few I genuinely care about." Jordan Dowling of

Drowned in Sound ''Drowned in Sound'', sometimes abbreviated to ''DiS'', is a UK-based music webzine financed by artist management company Silentway. Founded by editor Sean Adams, the site features reviews, news, interviews, and discussion forums. History ''D ...

also gave the album a positive review, writing "Easy listening this amn't, but if you want a rollercoaster ride into deep recessions and to be thrilled by the sounds that surround you, then this could be the perfect album for you."Xiu Xiu - La Foret
.

. 4 August 2005. Retrieved 9 July 2011.

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

's Heather Phares wrote "''La Foret'' may be more delicate and less immediate than some of Xiu Xiu's other work (especially ''

''), but at its best, it may have even more impact because of that." Joe Darling of Delusions of Adequacy, on the other hand, gave the album a negative review, writing "Unfortunately, the mere manufacture of unique sounds isn’t enough to rescue them on ''La Forêt''. If Xiu Xiu would only come to a greater understanding of its own volatility, the band would be enabled to create truly memorable compositions. Hopefully these folks will reach this realization before they become completely entangled by devices of their own resistance."Darling, Joe. .

Delusions of Adequacy A delusion is a false fixed belief that is not amenable to change in light of conflicting evidence. As a pathology, it is distinct from a belief based on false or incomplete information, confabulation, dogma, illusion, hallucination, or some o ...

. 1 August 2005. Retrieved 9 July 2011. Brandon Stosuy of ''Pitchfork'' described the album as "less jagged, more elegant" than previous albums, and subtler than ''

''.

Track listing

Personnel

The following people contributed to ''La Forêt:''La Forêt - Credits

. Retrieved 9 July 2011.

Xiu Xiu

* Jamie Stewart - Vocals, Guitar (1,2,4,5,10), Programming (2,4,6,9,11), Synthesizer (2,3,6,10), Percussion (3,5,6), Piano (3,4), Bass (5), Harmonium (7), Autoharp (9) * Cory McCulloch - Production, Synthesizer (3,6), Mandolin (3), Piano (3), Bass (4), Harmonium (6), Percussion (10) *

Caralee McElroy Caralee McElroy (born December 27, 1983) is a Brooklyn-based American multi-instrumentalist who has played in the bands Xiu Xiu, XXL, and Cold Cave. Biography McElroy was born in Olympia, WA and was raised in Modesto, California and Seattle, Wa ...

- Synthesizer (5,7,9), Harmonium (2,7), Percussion (8,9), Piano (9) *

Ches Smith Gordon McChesney "Ches" Smith is an American musician, whose primary instruments are drums, percussion, and vibraphone. He recorded and performed an album of his own solo percussion pieces entitled ''Congs for Brums'' (2006). In 2010 he release ...

- Vibraphone (1), Drums (11)

Additional personnel

- Double Bass (1,7,11) * John Dieterich - Casio Guitar (1), Programming (11), Vibraphone (11) * Miya Zane Osaki - Artwork, Design, Bass (1,11) * Alan Wiley - Tuba Mouth Piece (2), Tuba (5) * Marika Hughes - Cello (7) * Sam Mickens - String Arrangements (7) * Ben Goldberg - Clarinet (8), Bass Clarinet (8) * Nick Hennies - Percussion (11)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Foret Xiu Xiu albums 2005 albums 5 Rue Christine albums