A Promise (Xiu Xiu album)
Template:Use mdy dates {{safesubst:#invoke:Unsubst-infobox||$params=italic_title,name,type,longtype,artist,cover,border,alt,caption,released,recorded,venue,studio,genre,length,language,label,director,producer,compiler,chronology,prev_title,prev_year,year,next_title,next_year,misc|$extra=italic_title,longtype,border,caption,language,director,compiler,chronology,year,misc|$aliases=italic title>italic_title,Italic title>italic_title,Name>name,Type>type,image>cover,Cover>cover,Border>border,Alt>alt,Caption>caption,Longtype>longtype,Artist>artist,Released>released,Recorded>recorded,Venue>venue,Studio>studio,Genre>genre,Length>length,Language>language,Label>label,Director>director,Producer>producer,Compiler>compiler,Chronology>chronology,Misc>misc|$flags=override|$B={{#ifeq:{{#invoke:Is infobox in lead|main|[Ii]nfobox [Aa]lbum}}|true|{{#if:Template:Has short description | |{{#if: Template:Start date | Template:Short description}}}}}}{{#invoke:Infobox|infobox}}Template:Template otherTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Main other{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Infobox album with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y|italic_title |type |name |image |cover |border |alt |caption |longtype |artist |released |recorded |venue |studio |genre |length |language |label |director |producer |compiler |prev_title|prev_year|next_title|next_year|chronology|year|misc}}{{#if:{{#invoke:String|match|error_category=Music infoboxes with Module:String errors|A|1=Chapel of the Chimes2002Fag Patrol2003studioA PromisePromise.jpgPhoto of a naked man kneeling and holding a baby doll upside-down.Original cover art. The man's genitalia is covered with an orange rectangle on censored versions of the cover. The censored cover is used on digital versions and CDs of the album.Xiu XiuTemplate:Start dateTemplate:Flatlist38:545 Rue Christinex|2=</?t[drh][ >]|nomatch=}}|Template:Main other}}Template:Main other}} Template:Music ratings
A Promise is the second studio album by American experimental band Xiu Xiu, released on February 18, 2003 by 5 Rue Christine.
Overview
The track "Sad Pony Guerrilla Girl" is a reworking of a song by Jamie Stewart's previous band Ten In The Swear Jar (XITSJ), called just "Sad Girl", which first appeared on their 1999 album My Very Private Map. "Pink City" also has its roots in a two-part song from XITSJ's unreleased album Eat Death Orphans!, which was eventually published in 2003's Accordion Solo! as "Hot Karl".
The album includes a stripped-down cover of Tracy Chapman's "Fast Car", of which Stewart said "That song really, very, very, very directly shaped how I wanted to write lyrics or what I wanted songs to be about...I wanted them to turn out in so far as the song very specifically narrates some particular horrible things that happen to somebody and there's no positive resolution in the end at all."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Referring to the closing track, "Ian Curtis Wishlist", Stewart explained that "an Ian Curtis wish list is a list of things that you have convinced yourself that you want to have happen, but you know that are never going to happen."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Cover art
The cover art shows "a nude man kneeling on a bed and holding an upside-down baby doll".<ref name="Pitchfork 2006"/> The photograph was taken by Xiu Xiu frontperson Jamie Stewart, who met the photo's subject, a prostitute, at a gay cruising spot in Hanoi, Vietnam, and paid the man to take photos with the baby.<ref name="Pitchfork 2003"/> The original release was printed with an orange rectangle covering the man's penis, as the distributor told the band that only a tenth of the stores would carry the album without the censor. The rectangle censor was based on Todd Solondz's Storytelling, and Stewart was fine with it since "the point of the photo was him and not his dick".<ref name="Pitchfork 2006"/> The vinyl reissue went uncensored, and the label (Absolutely Kosher) threatened to take their business elsewhere if the manufacturer did not want to print the cover.<ref name="Pitchfork 2006"/>
Reception
Brandon Stosuy of Pitchfork wrote that Stewart "came into [their] own" on A Promise.<ref name="Pitchfork 2006"/>
Track listing
Personnel
Xiu Xiu
- Jamie Stewart
- Lauren Andrews
- Ches Smith
- Yvonne Chen
- Tally Jones
Additional personnel
- Cory McCulloch
- Aaron Russell
- Wei Hwu
- Sara Chaney
- Jherek Bischoff
- Korum Bischoff
- Sam Mickens
- John Golden - Mastering