Coexist

At last

The album in question, according to the overwhelming majority of those interested, arrived too late. Coexist is just the second album from the very popular The xx trio whose numerous fans anticipated it so eagerly. You might remember that the London-based collective’s debut record came up in 2009 and became one of the season’s most discussed releases. While some praised the effective use of minimalistic music approach, others criticized the same approach taking it for the young band’s creative impotence. However, the later appeared to be very few, and it was difficult to dispute the fact that The xx did make a very interesting and ground-breaking album. Many wanted the story to be continued immediately, but the reality was different. The band’s leader Jamie xx did not hurry back to the studio, but preferred to gain more experience, both on stage and in producer’s chair, also making remixes of hits by celebrities like Adele’s Rolling In The Deep. Therefore the work on the sophomore effort dragged out for almost a year owing to The xx taking breaks to keep playing gigs as they gradually refreshed their set and Jamie found time to work on side as well. And then it happened at last.

There ARE changes, yet immaterial

Coexist is definitely the word to define the The xx style combining rock guitars, gothic atmosphere and varied electronica. The changes that have taken place in the English trio’s music are shown by the new album’s first tracks. Once you compare the leisured, filled with silence and emptiness, Angels, and the more dynamic, thicker Chained, you will see what they are about. Right, there are tracks on Coexist, where Jamie and the vocalists decided to insert house beats to their ambient, thinned sounding, but that’s not enough to speak about changing the course. On the contrary, even this house intervention is not sufficient to make The xx music qualify for dance material. The musicians guard carefully the intimate atmosphere, the delicacy created by their silenced voices with echo effects and looped simple guitars. At the same time, they seem to be expressing their emotions more openly, while the instruments have become more distinct, marked, which is displayed by an awesome song called Fiction. Another highlight is Sunset whose low and muffled beats are mo intense than in much of the album, which, although, does not make it a club frenzy hit.

So far no missteps

Coexist, put briefly, is forty minutes that you will spend usefully. Or even pleasantly. The performers did their best to have their songs create a world of peace, relaxation and even some comfortable, light grief. Managing quite a vague wording, Romy said to press that the new album songs are about love, all kinds of it, and what it sometimes leads it. According to other musicians, what it leads to is heartbreaking confessions, deep regrets and begging for forgiveness. The xx have none. Indie rock elegantly clad in electronica, with soft and sweet voices at times hypnotizes, at times relaxes and at times just mesmerizes. The biggest part of this charm is the image of the musicians pictured by their songs: way too young, inexperienced, not always confident, yet so honest and vulnerable. Shyly and quietly, they speak of themselves and their feelings, and it not the tale, but rather the manner of telling that leaves the listener moved. Once this method will lose its power, causing the Londoners to move to changes more serious than those which are hardly noticeable on their second record. For now, their music deserves nothing but a kind word.