The xx: Coexist

Throughout the record, vocalists/instrumentalists Oliver Sim and Romy Madley Croft craft a sophisticated blend of droning harmonies that are both beautiful and sweet without being overtly earnest. The record’s first single, “Angels,” is a driving, soaring song that sets the album’s tone, fluttering around the idea of being in love—a pretty basic concept that nonetheless provides the center of Coexist’s lyrical themes. If xx was about fucking, Coexist is about dealing with the trials and tribulations of a relationship. Tracks like “Sunset,” “Tides,” and “Swept Away” all focus on different stages of romantic love, from infatuation to frustration to all the other stuff that falls in between. These songs are danceable, but—like the rest of the band’s body of work—would also be the ideal soundtrack for lying on the floor of a dark room and making out.

“You would’ve been there / I wish you’d been there / I needed you there,” Madley Croft sings on “Try,” her voice cracking over the huge, voluptuous bassline. These songs aren’t simply declarations; they are the thought process of how to deal with interpersonal struggles. “We bear everything in our music,” Madley Croft recently told Pitchfork, and she’s not lying. In a way, some of the group’s lyrics could be pulled from post-breakup emails that should never, ever be sent—and that voyeuristic quality, sitting upon Smith’s exquisite foundation of beats, makes it all strangely enticing.