Experimental icons Xiu Xiu have announced an ambitious new project titled Eraserhead Xiu Xiu, an immersive reinterpretation of Eraserhead set for release on 10th July.
Xiu Xiu
Alongside the announcement, the band have shared a striking new version of In Heaven, the eerie and unforgettable song originally composed by Peter Ivers with lyrics by David Lynch for Lynch’s cult 1977 debut feature. Accompanied by a dreamlike collage-style video, the track offers a first glimpse into what promises to be one of the year’s most uncompromising experimental releases.
For Xiu Xiu, the project represents both tribute and transformation. The band previously explored Lynch’s universe with 2016’s acclaimed Plays The Music Of Twin Peaks, created with the blessing of Lynch and longtime collaborator Angelo Badalamenti. Following Lynch’s recent passing, the group were approached about reviving that material live, but instead chose to move deeper into the filmmaker’s unsettling artistic world.
Rather than simply recreating the soundtrack of Eraserhead, Eraserhead Xiu Xiu aims to inhabit its atmosphere completely. Built using field recordings, homemade instruments, modular synthesisers, organs, musique concrète techniques and manipulated electrical interference, the album seeks to capture the film’s oppressive industrial dread, fractured emotionality and surreal sense of isolation.
The project also extends beyond the album itself. Conceived as a multimedia performance piece, the live show combines sound installation, projected visuals and experimental performance elements inspired by Lynch’s original work while imagining entirely new spaces within its universe.
Jamie Stewart and Angela Seo recorded the album in Berlin, crafting a sonic experience that swings between near-silence and violent noise eruptions. Tracks such as Sleep Synth and Tetra reportedly descend into grotesque walls of sound, while the closing rendition of In Heaven offers one of the album’s few moments of fragile beauty.
The release continues Xiu Xiu’s long-standing reputation as one of experimental music’s most fearless and emotionally intense acts. Across more than two decades, the band have consistently pushed the boundaries between avant-garde composition, noise, performance art and deeply personal songwriting. With Eraserhead Xiu Xiu, they appear to have created something that functions simultaneously as tribute, sonic installation and entirely new artistic statement.
The project will also be performed live at a select number of special events later this year, including screenings and festival appearances in North America.
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