Happy release day everyone! Xiu Xiu's amazing new album, Always, is officially out now! It's available right here through our online store (180-gram black vinyl, CD, MP3), or at your favorite local record shop. Our limited edition pink vinyl already sold out, but the white vinyl pictured above is available at all record shops where our stuff is sold, so you can still get your hands on some great colored wax.

Always has already received tons of positive feedback from the music world. NME calls it "positively swollen with meaning." Uncut describes the album as "beautiful...some will hail (Stewart) as their Morrissey," while SPIN.com pays homage to Stewart's honesty by stating "few songwriters are as brave as Xiu Xiu frontman Jamie Stewart."

Check out the first single "Hi" below, and be sure to visit the Xiu Xiu YouTube channel for 2 brand new videos.

More about Always

Two years after the band’s last album, Dear God, I Hate Myself, Xiu Xiu (the brainchild of acclaimed songwriter Jamie Stewart) makes its Polyvinyl full-length debut with Always. Produced by Deerhoof's Greg Saunier (who also contributes drums and vocals to the album) and mixed by John Congleton (Antony and the Johnsons, Marylin Manson, the Roots), Always is positively vibrant, transforming avant pop elements from an undertone into a bright black focal point while adding new influences such as choral music, kraut rock and animal field recordings.Stewart’s fearless lyrics have given voice to life's most untouchable and taboo subjects (sexual objectification, abortion, incest, molestation) while his distinctively committed but hushed vocals crystallize and medicate their unsettling impact. This unflinching lyrical style is coupled with pure, singable melodies -- the kind of pairings that bring into stark relief how often life's worst moments are shouldered with a skewed, cheery grin.