Xiu Xiu - Dear God, I Hate Myself [Deluxe Edition, Silver]

The two constants across Xiu Xiu's catalog are honesty and evolution, and Dear God, I Hate Myself is where those two things met the closest thing Jamie Stewart has ever made to a pop record. The title is a joke and also completely sincere, which is roughly how the whole album operates.

The sound is unmistakably Xiu Xiu, all brittle electronics and sudden violence, but Stewart's vocals arrive effortless here in a way they had not before, wrapped around melodies that are genuinely vibrant. The subject matter has not softened to match: responsibility, fear, healing, and the roles society hands you whether you want them or not, delivered in rich gothic pop that keeps daring you to hum along to something awful.

That tension is the whole argument of the record, and it is why it endures. Art can be pop, and pop can make you look at yourself. Sixteen years on it remains one of the most approachable doors into a catalog that does not have many.

This deluxe edition is pressed on silver vinyl with a bonus 7 inch, out September 25, 2026 through Kill Rock Stars.