diff --git a/src/pylast/__init__.py b/src/pylast/__init__.py
index 54d4d40..e32e849 100644
--- a/src/pylast/__init__.py
+++ b/src/pylast/__init__.py
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ import hashlib
 import html.entities
 import logging
 import os
+import re
 import shelve
 import ssl
 import tempfile
@@ -969,7 +970,7 @@ class _Request:
             conn.close()
         return response_text
 
-    def execute(self, cacheable=False):
+    def execute(self, cacheable: bool = False) -> xml.dom.minidom.Document:
         """Returns the XML DOM response of the POST Request from the server"""
 
         if self.network.is_caching_enabled() and cacheable:
@@ -977,13 +978,12 @@ class _Request:
         else:
             response = self._download_response()
 
-        return minidom.parseString(_string(response).replace("opensearch:", ""))
+        return _parse_response(response)
 
     def _check_response_for_errors(self, response):
         """Checks the response for errors and raises one if any exists."""
-
         try:
-            doc = minidom.parseString(_string(response).replace("opensearch:", ""))
+            doc = _parse_response(response)
         except Exception as e:
             raise MalformedResponseError(self.network, e) from e
 
@@ -2950,4 +2950,20 @@ def _unescape_htmlentity(string):
     return string
 
 
+def _parse_response(response: str) -> xml.dom.minidom.Document:
+    response = _string(response).replace("opensearch:", "")
+    try:
+        doc = minidom.parseString(response)
+    except xml.parsers.expat.ExpatError:
+        # Try again. For performance, we only remove when needed in rare cases.
+        doc = minidom.parseString(_remove_invalid_xml_chars(response))
+    return doc
+
+
+def _remove_invalid_xml_chars(string: str) -> str:
+    return re.sub(
+        r"[^\u0009\u000A\u000D\u0020-\uD7FF\uE000-\uFFFD\u10000-\u10FFF]+", "", string
+    )
+
+
 # End of file
diff --git a/tests/unicode_test.py b/tests/unicode_test.py
index 7b3c271..350256c 100644
--- a/tests/unicode_test.py
+++ b/tests/unicode_test.py
@@ -27,3 +27,42 @@ def test_get_cache_key(artist):
 def test_cast_and_hash(obj):
     assert type(str(obj)) is str
     assert isinstance(hash(obj), int)
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    "test_input, expected",
+    [
+        (
+            # Plain text
+            '<album mbid="">test album name</album>',
+            '<album mbid="">test album name</album>',
+        ),
+        (
+            # Contains Unicode ENQ Enquiry control character
+            '<album mbid="">test album \u0005name</album>',
+            '<album mbid="">test album name</album>',
+        ),
+    ],
+)
+def test__remove_invalid_xml_chars(test_input: str, expected: str) -> None:
+    assert pylast._remove_invalid_xml_chars(test_input) == expected
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    "test_input, expected",
+    [
+        (
+            # Plain text
+            '<album mbid="">test album name</album>',
+            '<?xml version="1.0" ?><album mbid="">test album name</album>',
+        ),
+        (
+            # Contains Unicode ENQ Enquiry control character
+            '<album mbid="">test album \u0005name</album>',
+            '<?xml version="1.0" ?><album mbid="">test album name</album>',
+        ),
+    ],
+)
+def test__parse_response(test_input: str, expected: str) -> None:
+    doc = pylast._parse_response(test_input)
+    assert doc.toxml() == expected