Avant-garde pioneers Xiu Xiu have announced ERASERHEAD XIU XIU, a comprehensive studio album and multimedia exploration of David Lynch’s 1977 cinematic masterpiece, Eraserhead. Due out July 10th, 2026 via Polyvinyl, the announcement is accompanied by a reimagined version of the film’s signature track “In Heaven.” Moving past requests to revive their historic Plays the Music of Twin Peaks live set, the project stands as a deeper, more challenging tribute to Lynch’s artistic legacy following his passing.
The upcoming release of ERASERHEAD XIU XIU marks a return to the surreal cinematic landscapes that Xiu Xiu so naturally inhabit. Between 2016 and 2018, the band achieved surprise commercial and critical success, touring their interpretations of the Twin Peaks score. While recent requests urged the group to resurrect that particular show, multi-instrumentalist Jamie Stewart and company chose instead to honour Lynch’s boundary-pushing ethos by tackling a far more abrasive artistic challenge. The resulting project expands a live concert experience and self-directed film collage into a definitive full-length studio record.
Musically, the album is a dense exercise in industrial noise, sound collage, and musique concrète. Utilising an unpredictable toolkit of field recordings, modular synths, organ, electrical interference, and custom-built instruments, the tracks shift violently from minimalist dread to overwhelming, grotesque cacophonies. The lead single, “In Heaven”—originally composed by Peter Ivers with lyrics by Lynch—serves as the record’s emotional anchor. Anchored by Stewart’s delicate, fragile vocal delivery, the track balances the relentless darkness of the album with a striking sense of elegance and wonder.
Guided by the legendary original sound design of Alan Splet and David Lynch, the album acts as both an epitaph to an idol and a completely independent piece of confrontational art. Xiu Xiu uses the film’s iconic moonscape to birth their own visual lens, treating listeners to what they describe as “imaginary unused auxiliary footage.” Arriving on Polyvinyl this July, ERASERHEAD XIU XIU promises to be an intense, curious, and profoundly unsettling tribute to the raw mechanics of cinematic and auditory horror.
