Minimalist, crystalline and intimate, The xx’s debut album contains the DNA of a subsequent decade of brilliant pop.
Ahead of the Mercury Prize 2017, we preview the shortlisted nominees and look at the history of the award.
The Mercury Prize list has certainly let us down this year, so we decided to make a list of what we thought should have made the cut.
Nearly five years in the making, The xx’s third album ‘I See You’ is another triumph, retaining all their established qualities but impressively expanding their sonic palette.
To adapt that famous misquotation attributed to Mark Twain, reports of the album’s death have been greatly exaggerated. Ever since the turn of the millennium, conventional wisdom has had it that the traditional long-player is on its way out, an arcane format out of time with the digital world that will cede inexorably to a future of singles and playlists. But while many artists have experimented with what an album
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by Ed Biggs It’s been nearly seven years since The xx became one of the last word-of-mouth success stories in pop, their self-titled debut album capturing the hearts and minds of the public with its exploration of space, both physical and musical. While the group’s singers Oliver Sim and Romy Madley-Croft often stole the limelight with their intimate lyrical back-and-forths, the real secret to their brilliance was Jamie Smith (aka. Jamie
