Experimental art-rock shapeshifters Xiu Xiu have announced their latest project: Xiu Mutha Fuckin’ Xiu: Vol. 1, a wide-ranging and deeply idiosyncratic collection of covers arriving 16th January 2026 via Polyvinyl. Long available only to subscribers of their Bandcamp series, these reimaginings now see their first full official release — a meticulously curated portfolio that spans decades, genres and entirely disparate musical worlds.
Xiu Xiu
The news arrives alongside the release of the compilation’s lead track, a darkly glinting cover of The Runaways’ Cherry Bomb, paired with a B-side rendition of Daniel Johnston’s Some Things Last A Long Time.
Frontperson Jamie Stewart describes the band’s ethos around covers as one guided by reverence rather than reinvention. “We never approach them thinking ‘How can we improve these?’ but really ‘What can we learn from these?’” they explain. “They are all… pieces of music that have moved us, and exploring them in a deep way is a small honorific offering to the muse that created them.”
Stewart admits the emotional weight of recording Johnston’s fragile ballad: “Unexpectedly I cried while singing the Daniel Johnston song. If there ever were a sincere and wounded voice in the world it is his.” On the flipside, their take on Cherry Bomb taps directly into the swaggering, bratty spirit of Joan Jett’s early years: “I love Joan Jett and I love being bad and this song is all about both.”
Across its twelve tracks, Xiu Mutha Fuckin’ Xiu: Vol. 1 moves like a lucid dream — familiar shapes transformed through distortion, ritual and the band’s unmistakable avant-garde touch. Stewart, Angela Seo and David Kendrick pull songs through the looking glass, bending eras and aesthetics until they sit comfortably in the Xiu Xiu universe.
They warp Talking Heads’ Psycho Killer into a feverish, organ-drenched garage séance, while Roy Orbison’s In Dreams becomes a test of Stewart’s vocal extremities. Throbbing Gristle’s Hamburger Lady, The Normal/Grace Jones’ Warm Leatherette, and Soft Cell’s Sex Dwarf feed into the band’s industrial leanings, while Robyn’s Dancing On My Own and GloRilla’s Lick Or Sum receive eerie, contemporary reinterpretations.
Connections to their past tributes — from Nina to Xiu Xiu Plays the Music of Twin Peaks — are clear; but here, the band cast their net even wider, gathering songs from Coil, This Heat, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins and more. The result reads like a secret history of experimental pop, filtered through Xiu Xiu’s dream logic and meticulous deconstruction.
Xiu Xiu – 2026 Tour Dates: ERASERHEAD Performances:
JANUARY
16th – Miami, FL @ The Ground
18th – Tampa, FL @ Sun Ray Cinema
31st – Brighton, UK @ Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts
FEBRUARY
1st – Liverpool, England @ Quarry
2nd – Manchester, England @ Gorilla
4th – Glasgow, Scotland @ Cottiers
6th – London, England @ ICA
7th – London, England @ ICA
9th – Paris, France @ La Marbrerie
APRIL
2nd – Athens, Greece @ Danaos Cinema
9th–12th – The Hague, Netherlands @ Rewire Festival
Grief, Glory & Grace – Gary Numan’s Heartbroken Homecoming Hammersmith Apollo
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