Coexist
(Young Turks)
The good news is there's no bad news: The xx still sound like The xx. Over the 11 songs on Coexist it's clear that Jamie Smith, Oliver Sim and Romy Madley Croft still adhere to the less-is-more approach that gave their Mercury Prize-winning 2010 debut its wonderful sense of space and restraint. If anything, they've improved on it, paring back the sound to make it even more atmospheric, sharpening their lyric-writing and putting more faith than before in the power of duetting voices. Theirs are breathy, hesitant, beguiling. Smith had promised a more club-influenced follow-up, but it's clear that any borrowings from urban music have been for the lower registers only. The bass is bassier and so are the sparse beats. But while a two-step rhythm offers some kind of propulsion on Swept Away, Chained runs on a glitchy-sounding off-beat and Sunset reveals Smith's love of dub, not even they would trouble a dancefloor much. The London's band's debut album became ubiquitous in the year after its release – I'd be very surprised if this one didn't go the same way.
