Trio finds performing legs
The xx’s self-titled 2009 debut easily goes down as one of the unexpected hits of the first decade of the 2000s.
The trio of vocalist-bassist Oliver Sim, vocalist-guitarist Romy Madley Croft and producer-percussionist Jamie xx (James Thomas “Jamie” Smith) delivered some of the most sophisticated and spacious dream pop imaginable while the members were just barely out of secondary school. The group took the prestigious Mercury Prize for the record and went from playing to nobody in small London bars to headlining.
By the time they launched their first North American tour in Vancouver in 2012, the second album, Coexist, was out, but the band was still finding its performing legs. It would be fair to say they were pretty wobbly. The performance was moving, but it seemed the whole thing could have collapsed, too.
Last month, The xx performed on a massive South American Lollapalooza tour like seasoned concert pros. Having just released their third album, titled I See You, to almost universal acclaim, the trio that took to the stage is now
polished and potent. Sim chatted from the bus on the way to play Coachella.
“We’re from London, where the audiences are pretty reserved, and those South American fans are absolutely amazing,” Sim said.
What is also astonishing is how this trio has managed to craft such intimate and fragile music out of influences ranging from classic post-punk acts like The Cure to ’90s R&B, classic soul and full-on electronic dance music.
Right from the start, songs such as Crystalised and Basic Space showcased the back and forth, near conversational vocal interplay between longtime best friends Croft and Sim.
This reaches a whole new level on new tracks such as the sublime Say Something Loving, where Sim declares “I do myself a disservice/ To feel this weak, to be this nervous,” before Croft counters later with “Here come my insecurities/I almost expect you to leave.” It’s like the listener is in on the most personal pillow talk. It’s easy to assume that these two must talk openly about everything to write lyrics like this.
“Absolutely not. In fact, it wasn’t until this album that we could even be in the same room at the same time writing,” Sim said.
“We used to email back and forth because it was so much easier than being face to face. This meant that what I wrote was mine, what Romy wrote was hers, and we did it completely differently this time around and wrote together in the same room, and it changed things from what may have been collage to something more conversational.”
The other key to the success of I See You was the time off after the previous blitz of constant touring following the first two albums.
During that time, Jamie xx exploded as a producer for everyone from the late, great Gil Scott-Heron on We’re New Here to Drake f. Rihanna (Take Care), Radiohead (Bloom remixes) and Alicia Keys (When It’s All Over).
He also dropped his Grammynominated solo debut In Colour and scored the ballet Tree of Codes. Sim also did some non-musical things, including a modelling gig for Christian Dior.