I don't see how it could be compared to animal collective. To me, xiu xiu are angry gay pop songs with a sense of humour and desperation and sadness. Something like that.
Also, I don't see why people expect things to sound good live. Some bands are live bands, others artists like xiu xiu will definitely sound better on record. I don't expect anyone to reproduce exactly what I've heard on the record, that's the fun of it.
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