After roughly 16 years fronting Xiu Xiu and straight-up ripping our hearts out in the process, Jamie Stewart, one of the most beloved artists here at TMT, is releasing his first solo album. Titled An Aggressive, Chain Smoking Alcoholic, the album finds Stewart pursuing his more assertive, noisier tendencies, with nine instrumental tracks of tense modular synth explorations that range from brooding to brutal. Explains Stewart:
xiu xiu has, for better or worse, dealt with constraints and rules for each record. sometimes that rule is total freedom which due to its wildness becomes a constraint, or there will be a specific set of instruments or lyrical approaches only, nothing else can be used etc. with this record, which has nothing to do with xiu xiu, i wanted to then go down a path and in a way that xiu xiu could never nor would never.
An Aggressive, Chain Smoking Alcoholic was written almost entirely on modular synths at Stewart’s home studio NURSE, and produced by ambient drone expert and Room40 proprietor Lawrence English. The pairing is not too surprising: Stewart and English recently collaborated in a pocket dimension as HEXA to soundtrack David Lynch’s Factory Photographs. (Speaking of Gordon Cole, was anyone else hoping to see Jamie at The Roadhouse during Twin Peaks: The Return?)
Look for An Aggressive, Chain Smoking Alcoholic April 21 on pinyon, a new label that was “born out of a love for music that sounds wrong, or at least is on the wrong side of right.” It will be released as part of Record Store Day on a special limited-edition heavyweight color vinyl. The color appears to be some sort of grayish green, but regular ol’ black could’ve been just as appropriate for this one.
An Aggressive, Chain Smoking Alcoholic tracklist:
01. Dosey Doe
02. As A Favor to Me, Please Kil Your Wife’s Step Father
03. Thanks For Nothing
04. Inconsistent And Peculiar Volume
05. Scout Schultz
06. Rollin Forties
07. Western Destroying Angel
08. Raw Deal
09. Dosey Duh
More about: Jamie Stewart, Lawrence English, Xiu Xiu
