Sunday, April 1, 2012

The xx - xx

What do you think when you see xx? Do you have natural tendency to add one x? I do not... not after my mind was marked with the sound of the xx.




Continuing in a bit more formal way - The xx are the English indie band formed in 2005. Crystalised comes from their 2009 debut album xx. It was very well received from international critics ( metacritic shows 87/100 from 25 sources ) as it ranked one on the list of The Best 2009 Albums by Guardian, second for NME and ninth for the Rolling Stone. On the top of that, band won the Mercury Music Prize for it in 2010.
This formal presentation was added just in case, if the clip did not catch your interest to hear the whole xx. As for me, one song was just enough. It struck me by its ascetic, half-whispered and emotional sound.
Recorded and mixed mostly  at night in the small garage of the XL Recordings studio, xx embeds you with its whispery nature, almost as it was the condition of the recordings. Was it? I tend to believe that it was no coincidence but the deliberate choice. And what really impresses me is that band so youth was able to create recordings where every sound and silence matter,where melody and voice whisper through the night in such emotional way.
And when stated before about rather not adding an extra x to xx ...-up to my mind.. As ironically for some critics the issue became their main impression about the band's performance:
The xx are four 20-year-olds from South London who make predominantly slow, furtive pop music, mostly about sex. - pitchfork.com

Have a look on live and acoustic versions of the Crystalised...



...Impressive..?

For more about The XX:

Their website: www.thexx.info
MySpace: www.myspace.com/thexx

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