The xx’s Coexist was a funny thing, what with its moments of gorgeous clarity being fogged by a miasma of tedium and its apparent reluctance to fully engage with the stylistic shifts it looked certain to make. The tragedy of the band threatening to release an album that merged a club sensibility with the minimalist intimacy of their debut and the resulting record being a collage of beige hasn't really worn off (and neither has the irony of its best track being the least danceable song they've ever produced). But out of this genteel car crash has emerged something quite brilliant.
Though not a huge departure from the original in terms of melody and structure, by putting the emphasis more firmly on the deep drum pattern (and by giving it a stronger 2-step feel) the whole thing becomes at once more beautiful and miserable. The vocals no longer take centre stage, but they feel like a more cohesive aspect than they did in the original, which relegated them to being a dampener for whenever the beat’s warmth threatened to push through and spoil all the fun Romy and Oliver clearly weren't having. If nothing else it’s a pertinent reminder that Jamie xx, for all the talk of his significance to the group, operates far better when he’s off in his own little world.
The xx have a lot to live up to. Their debut album was the critic’s darling, making numerous end of year lists and of course taking the coveted Mercury Music Prize. Then came a period of uncertainty; Jamie xx was off doing lots of side projects, there were rumours that the band were going to split. But the trio pulled through, much to our relief. All this means that the follow up, ‘Coexist’, has become one of the most hotly anticipated records of 2012, and will probably be one of the most toughly scrutinised.
So far, so good, from what we’ve heard. Scrappy live recordings have appeared as the xx begin to show off tracks from the forthcoming album, but it’s the tracks they’ve released properly which will pique the listener’s interest. While ‘Angels’ could easily have slotted in on the first album, ‘Chained’ shows the band moving slowly in the direction which many would have predicted. Although it starts with those hushed vocals from Romy and Oliver that we all first fell in love with, they’re quickly underpinned by beats from Jamie xx which stand out a lot more than they did previously. His collaboration with Gil Scott-Heron as well as his various remixes suggested that the standard drumming on ‘Angels’ could be a one-off. It definitely works. As the singers lament ‘we used to get closer than this/is it something that you miss?’ the almost upbeat rhythms only add to the intensity of it all. The fragility and the vulnerability of the vocals is contrasted with a new-found confidence which is being shown off in the percussion, a confidence which could really be seen on their Conan performance, a confidence which will only make the band even better. The abrupt end to the track makes you ponder only one question; can the xx really do it again? From the sound of this, they can.
With the boundaries that The xx’s debut album set, being acclaimed one of the best albums of 2009 and it’s overwhelmingly positive reviews, it’s no wonder that they’ve shied away from the spotlight for the past year or so. Their disappearance off the musical radar left many an awestruck fan tossing two sides of the coin: had they already reached their peak and would another album taint the crystallised perfection of the first, or was that just the tip of the iceberg? Now they seem to have crept out the shadows again leaving behind the demo of “Open Eyes” before slinking back to record their new album which opens with a soft melancholy, humming resounding with tenderness and longing. At first, Romy Madley Croft’s crooning seems hesitant and self-conscious, as does the simple bass riff rising and dropping again as quick as it started like a hopeful heartbeat only echoed in the lyrics seeming to offer futile reassurance: “everything will be alright.”
Without the synths and beats that made up the bulk of the first album, this shows The xx stripped down, naked and at their most vulnerable, but still still retaining their underlying notion of sincerity that they do best. It only gets better with every listen, so convincing that once you’ve stopped listening you realise you’re so wrapped up in the tangible aching sense of longing that it it embodies, trying to remember why you feel this way until you realise that it’s just your empathy that you have with the “loss of faith” that ‘Open Eyes’ revolves around. Fortunately, this only instills faith in the fact that The xx really do have the midas touch and can push themselves in a very different direction whilst maintaining their recognisable sound and hopefully return from their absence to more well-deserved glory.
