The empty space around the mixing desk at the back of the room has grown.
The sold-out crowd inside Brisbane's Institute Of Modern Art (4 April) tightly packed themselves close to the stage as US trio Xiu Xiu took the stage, while some found a view in the next room via a gaping hole in the wall behind the stage.The silence was decimated by the galloping rhythm of David Kendrick's drums, and Angela Seo and Jamie Stewart bashing their respective cymbals, the latter sharing that energy with a full-bodied wail. It's an explosive wall of noise, but the crowd pushed against and held their ground bunched around the low stage.
It's been some time since the American experimentalists have made their way to Brisbane. Their last visit to the city came in 2015, performing music from the cult series 'Twin Peaks' in conjunction with GOMA's David Lynch exhibition.
After a decade's absence, the band returned to the crowd's delight as part of local experimental musician Lawrence English's MONO concert series. This time, the band brought their own noise with them, including their 14th album, '13" Frank Beltrame Italian Stiletto With Bison Horn Grips'.
A blast of static noise jolted surprised crowd members. The stage was bare, but after some searching, a slither of a gap within the crowd revealed a figure seated on the venue's floor – the noise musician Lesbian Merzbow, who tonight is half of opening duo Gorgina.
Sitting inside a pit surrounded by cords and cables, Lesbian Merzbow switched between her laptop and twisting knobs on consoles, pushing their noise to its limits.
Suddenly springing up and visible above the crowd Gorgina's other half, Yvette Ofa Agapow, spoke a monotone monologue into a microphone held close to her lips. Her exact words were buried beneath the static, but the intensity of her words was felt when her voice grew into manic cackles and shrill screams that sent her collapsing to the floor by the set's end.
It's an intense beginning to the night, but one the crowd didn't back away from.
Xiu Xiu's Stewart stood on his toes to glimpse above the crowd to see how far back it went. Throughout the night, fans standing at the back had to do the same, putting stress on their calf muscles to see above the silhouetted heads blocking the view.
"If you expect me to be outrageous, I will be extra outrageous," Jamie quietly croons on 'Gray Death'. It's a lyric that might explain the physical performance he brings to the set. As a plane engine revved from the speakers, Jamie rushed around the stage with one arm outstretched like a wing and the other holding a shaker on top of his head.
Dissonant electronic noise and big drum hits fill 'It Comes Out As A Joke', sending Jamie into fits of flailing arms, jumping around with a cowbell, ranting, raving, shrieking, and a couple of attempts at handstands that saw his feet rise above the crowd.
Alongside their noise, Xiu Xiu are known for their intensity, confronting taboos head-on in their lyrics. That intensity was delivered on 'Wig Master', an explicit monologue delivered by Seo.
Between descriptions of S&M, Jamie blew on a small horn that sounded like the final cries of a pig in a slaughterhouse. More horns and cymbals came, concluding with Angela screaming a phrase, devolving into a series of pained, sharp screams that are more powerful than mere words.
The band intensely ploughed through their set, Jamie's eyes staring dead ahead as he shrieked and yelped. However, a slight break from their seriousness came right at the end on closing song, 'Get Up'.
As Jamie opened his mouth ready to deliver his next verse, a smirk cracked his serious expression and he shook his head. "Even when you've sung a song 20,000 times, sometimes the words just fall out of your brain," he chuckled.
It's a surprising break in Jamie's composure, but it was one that delighted the crowd. That break didn't slow Xiu Xiu's momentum, regaining themselves quickly and crashing into a roar of guitar distortion that drew the crowd closer one more time.
