Coexist is a cinematic experience contained within thirty-seven minutes of music. It’s not a complex story, it’s actually quite simple, one that speaks about love and broken love. Over the course of the album, it seems that singers Romy Madley Croft and Oliver Sim are forlorn lovers conversing back and forth about their relationship as it builds and finally breaks. The near whisper vocals are punctuated by a haunting minimalist guitar and sporadic percussion by producer/DJ Jamie xx. There is never a competition between Romy and Oliver, the whisper like vocals allow the listener to take in the story and judge for themselves about who might be at fault. There’s so much atmosphere and life in these songs that you can almost hear one of them pull out their cigarettes, flick their lighter, and sigh as they realize it’s going to be a long night, and they blow out the smoke and let it linger in a dimly lit room and hash out the issues in their relationship.
The xx came into my own world a few years ago thanks to the television show, Chuck, in which the namesake, Chuck, makes a playlist for his girlfriend, Sarah. He uses the song Heart Skipped a Beat off from the band’s first album, xx. From there I sought out that first album and fell in love with the production and simplicity of their songs. On Coexist, their second album, the simplicity is even more evident. In fact, on Coexist there isn’t much left to strip away in a lot of places. In some places the singers are left on their own while Jamie xx drops any and all music to punctuate the emotion of a particular verse. Moody, atmospheric, cinematic, all of these words do not seem like they completely describe what this album sounds like, they are the tips of the iceberg.
There is a fair bit of that glitch beat style that Radiohead was trying to accomplish on their last album. Jamie has learned from their failure though and instead of littering the album with odd, un-danceable beats, he has made the most danceable, non-dance album. It would be hard to hear any one of these songs at a middle school dance, but on the dance floor in some dark, hole in the ground, down-tempo based club in England, I’m sure that this album will catch on. That’s not to say that this album isn’t for everyone, it’s a very beautiful album. It’s the most quintessential chill album released in the last few years.
In the past few years producer and DJ, Jamie xx (a.k.a. Jamie Smith), hasn’t quite become a household name, which is a shame because he’s a genius. His production has become huge in the top 40 pop world though, so it’s a step in the right direction. Even if you don’t know his name, you’ve probably heard his production. Drake heard Jamie’s remix of “I’ll Take Care of U” from his remix album We’re New Here featuring Gil Scott-Heron and sampled it on his own album, Take Care, with Rihanna taking over for Gil’s voice. Jamie also remixed Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep”, which is a slightly bizarre version, though a version of that remix featuring Childish Gambino has achieved something of cult status online. He’s had a song featured on a Radiohead remix album and has slowly become a producer in demand.
On this album, it’s obvious that in the space betweenxx and Coexist Jamie has grown a lot in his production and his usage of sound or sometimes lack thereof. For the latter comments, the same could be said about Oliver and Romy, both have taken their songwriting to new places, it’s more personal and intimate. They’ve hit strides in their musicianship as well. Some instrument phrasing that seemed random on the last album has meaning on this one as they punctuate their lyrics with whatever the lyric calls for, either a sharp, cutting guitar effect or simple silence. For a band that formed in 2008, while they were in high school, they’ve grown up a lot. Some bands lose direction and focus in four years and take their success for granted, and The xx do not. They’re still trying to prove that their first album wasn’t a fluke.
It’s easy as a reviewer to drop dreaded keywords like “sophomore slump” or “it’s really hard to follow up a masterpiece like their first album” and in some cases it’s just laziness on the reviewers part and sometimes it’s true. In the case of The xx, there is no sophomore slump, and in fact they’ve released an album that is far superior to their first album. In a world where it’s nearly impossible to follow up your initial success with a decent album, The xx do not seem afraid. In fact, it appears that in the last few years since their first album, they’ve built confidence and aren’t afraid to try different things, while sticking to what works. I highly recommend this album, it’s virtually all I have listened to in the last week and not just because I’ve been working on this review. I’ve been waiting for this album for some time now and it’s surpassed all my expectations. It’s a perfect album for late night drives, those rainy, dreary days or an album that you put on at the end of a long, hard day. So far this is my favorite album of the year with Frank Ocean’s Channel ORANGE at a very close second. You won’t be disappointed listening to this album.