As solo artists, XIXA’s Brian López and Gabriel Sullivan lived in Nantes, France, and encountered Royal de Luxe’s giant marionettes.
They told the story of a young girl, Arcoiris, and her cosmic canine companion, El Xolo, as they traverse through the underworld of Mictlán.
The duo spun that into “XOLO,” a concept record that hits stores on Friday, March 21. “Xolo” refers to a breed of Mexican hairless dog, Xoloitzcuintli. As the story goes, the dogs are sacred in Mayan and Aztec cultures as guides through Mictlán.
Musically, the moods and styles shift along with the journey. Still guided by dark psychedelia and cumbia, XIXA expands on its arrangements and musical language.
On the final track, “Heart of the World,” XIXA invited children to sing the choruses, creating a welcome party for Arcoiris and Xolo. As the outro concludes, they’ve reached the end of their journey through the underworld and found peace.
López and Sullivan recorded “XOLO” — the follow up to 2021’s critically acclaimed sophomore effort “Genesis” — at Sullivan’s Dust and Stone Recording Studio in Tucson.
XIXA will take fans on that journey during their record release party at 8 p.m. Friday, March 21, at the Rialto Theatre.
“We’re playing the new record,” Sullivan said. “We’re bringing out old songs that we haven’t played in a while. It’s been a couple of years since we played on stage together. Everyone’s coming at it with a new perspective and everyone’s a little older.”
The process of creating “XOLO” was “super unique,” Sullivan said. He and López wrote more than 30 songs from which to pull for the collection.
“With us, someone comes in with a melody idea or a guitar part—it’s often just the six of us in a room—and we make songs from scratch on the spot in the studio and record it by the end of the day,” he said.
“We were doing one song per day, and then Brian and I would revisit the songs. We write the lyrics together. It’s definitely a process that I don’t think many bands do. We’re lucky to have my studio so we can afford to take as much time as we want.”
López and Sullivan worked on “XOLO” in between side projects, as López performs with Calexico, and Sullivan with Modern English.
“Calexico has been sonic heroes for us,” Sullivan said. “Joey (Burns) and John (Convertino) have always captured the vibe of the desert out here. It’s been a huge influence on our music.
“Then, playing with Modern English definitely brought heavy, post-punk influences to the new record. To top it off, Robbie (Grey) and Mick (Conroy) of Modern English are featured on the track ‘It Doesn’t Matter,’ which was a pretty unique collaboration.”
“It Doesn’t Matter” — as well as the album as a whole — captures the spirit of XIXA’s musical exploration. This task or “job” has kept Sullivan passionate throughout his career.
“It’s more of a necessity than anything,” Sullivan said. “I don’t know how I’d survive if I didn’t get these songs out of me.
“With my recording studio, Dust and Stone, different types of music are always coming in and out. They inspire me and inspire our band.
“We just finished recording a death metal record and then a folk record. I don’t know how you cannot be inspired by this.”
XIXA w/Pijama Piyama
WHEN: 8 p.m. Friday, March 21
WHERE: Rialto Theatre, 318 E. Congress Street, Tucson
COST: Tickets start at $23
INFO: rialtotheatre.com
