Xiu Xiu have shared “Rumpus Room” ft. Angus Andrew of Liars, the latest single from the duets album OH NO, out on 26th March via Polyvinyl. The single release comes with a new video, directed by Xiu Xiu’s Angela Seo, who previously helmed the video for January’s lead single “A Bottle of Rum” which featured vocals from Liz Harris.
DIY and surreal, the “Rumpus Room” video which picks up where “Bottle of Rum” left off. Angela Seo, dressed in cheerleader attire, parades around her living room, indulging in Hot Cheetos and Takis as she gallivants around in boxing gloves and Crocs, less product placement than it is product placebo. Here, the world feels off-kilter, the familiarity of these items juxtaposed against hers and Jamie Stewart‘s roughhousing as it takes dark turns.
From Angela: “Does everyone have a deep personal childhood association with Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, or just me? One of the first things I shoplifted as a kid was a bag of FHC. I once bet my cousin I could finish an entire Party Size bag in one sitting; I won the bet but lost my sense of taste for a couple days. I was a latchkey kid and would ditch school and often go to the 7-eleven by our apartment, where some 20-year-old kid who didn’t give a crap would be working and watch me play their single arcade game–marvel-capcom– in the corner as long as I bought a slurpee and FHC. Sometimes in my old teenage journals, I find flamin’ red dusted fingerprint smudges among melodramatic poems and fake runaway notes. All that intersected perfectly with the “Rumpus Room” song, and part II story of the video trilogy (1st being “A Bottle of Rum”).”
Listen to “Rumpus Room” and watch the video directed by Angela Seo below: