[mp3] I won't rest until I don't care

Xiu Xiu - "I Luv The Valley OH!" (mp3)

Xiu Xiu's better songs almost always seem like layers and layers of ornamentation and reinterpretation applied to a center that may or may not justify the effort on its own, like if the Waking Life animators had taken seven or eight passes at each scene instead of just one. I didn't realize until last month that this song actually *is* a revision of an older one; Jamie Stewart first recorded it with his previous band, Ten In The Swear Jar, five or six years ago. XITSJ's version is missing the "OH!" in both the title and the song itself, which blunts the impact. What makes that scream so central to the song is the way Stewart sings "I love the valley--" just before it, his intonation making it clear that the sentence isn't over.