I know I am late to the scene, but I feel this album, The XX by the XX deserves yet another positive review.

Take Chris Isaak and Interpol, smash them together in the LHC (Large Hadron Collider, for the non nerds) and sprinkle some of The Cure for flavor, and you more or less have created The XX. Their sound is very intimate and brooding. Lightly playful while remaining reflective, their album through and through is extremely visceral and pleasingly mellow. Many of their songs contain the simple backbone of 2-4-count kicks, as prominently found in Interpol's music. The guitars reflect that of classic light rock mixed with the quintessential harmonized indie-guitar, which I find very similar to the style of Chris Isaak (Listen to Wicked Game by Isaak and then Infinity by The XX to see what I mean). Vocally, they seem to mix it up often between the female vocalist and the male vocalist -- they are both more soft sounding than sweet. What makes their overall rhythm distinctly different from that of an Interpol type of band is their use of claps and other crisp scale-oriented sounds. The XX also refrains from high energy bursts, keeping a much more consistent relaxed feel throughout, leaning to the shoegaze genre more than the post-punk / indie-rock genres.

I have been in ownership of the album for about three days now, and I have listened to it 14 times, according to Windows Media Player. That alone sums up how much I can appreciate the album, as I am usually very anti-repetition when it comes to my music listenin'. I also do not write reviews unless I feel strongly about the music at hand, be it positive or negative.

Anyways, if you haven't already, and you like rock (be it alternative, indie, post-punk or whatever), you should definitely give this album a try.

Submit Post