The XX started their career with their album xx back in 2009 and there was no surprise about it going platinum in the UK. This year, the london-based band proves their advancement in the music industry with the release of their newest album, Coexist, on September 10, 2012.
Unlike their first album, xx, Coexist enhances the group’s minimalistic beats and sounds with Romy Madley-Croft and Oliver Sim’s hauntingly harmonious voices.
The echo-y guitar trademark in their last album transcends into Coexist and seems prominent in songs like “Angels” and “Fiction” but isn’t the main focus this time around. Member Jamie Smith, an English producer and remix artist, plays up the pulsating bass in “Chained” which adds a new twist to their signature sound.
The album also includes other musical elements like the Caribbean steel drums and other stringed instruments to incorporate a more energetic atmosphere.
Lyrically, the band dissects a failed relationship and where it all went wrong. The XX try to mend the hearts of the broken with lyrics such as, “I saw you again, it felt like we had never met/It’s like the sun set in your eyes and never wanted to rise” which signifies the end of a relationship like a sunset represents the end of a day.
This isn’t an album you come home to and listen to when you’re happy. The lyrics seem as though they were picked off from break-up texts and emails but Smith creates an enticing song with the beat to lure the audience into the album.
Coexist evokes a mature coping mechanism for the heartbroken and many of the song’s lyrics are spaced out with silence to heighten the album’s affection.
The XX end the album with “Our Song” in which Madley-Croft and Sim acknowledge each other for the first time in the album, expressing their passion in a sincere way.
Madley-Croft doesn’t mind soothing you to sleep with her voice because you’ll leave with simple words of love’s hardships which rest in the core of Coexist.
Unlike their first album, xx, Coexist enhances the group’s minimalistic beats and sounds with Romy Madley-Croft and Oliver Sim’s hauntingly harmonious voices.
The echo-y guitar trademark in their last album transcends into Coexist and seems prominent in songs like “Angels” and “Fiction” but isn’t the main focus this time around. Member Jamie Smith, an English producer and remix artist, plays up the pulsating bass in “Chained” which adds a new twist to their signature sound.
The album also includes other musical elements like the Caribbean steel drums and other stringed instruments to incorporate a more energetic atmosphere.
Lyrically, the band dissects a failed relationship and where it all went wrong. The XX try to mend the hearts of the broken with lyrics such as, “I saw you again, it felt like we had never met/It’s like the sun set in your eyes and never wanted to rise” which signifies the end of a relationship like a sunset represents the end of a day.
This isn’t an album you come home to and listen to when you’re happy. The lyrics seem as though they were picked off from break-up texts and emails but Smith creates an enticing song with the beat to lure the audience into the album.
Coexist evokes a mature coping mechanism for the heartbroken and many of the song’s lyrics are spaced out with silence to heighten the album’s affection.
The XX end the album with “Our Song” in which Madley-Croft and Sim acknowledge each other for the first time in the album, expressing their passion in a sincere way.
Madley-Croft doesn’t mind soothing you to sleep with her voice because you’ll leave with simple words of love’s hardships which rest in the core of Coexist.
Rating: B
