Album Review: The xx - Coexist

Following three years of production, The xx are back with their second album. Written with all three band members together for the first time, Coexist is a clear progression for the trio, showing a newfound talent in drawing out personal experiences and laying their hearts out bare.

Where xx was an album about dreams and expectations, Coexist is a deeply personal look at relationships and as such has produced a much more calming, chilled-out album. The minimal sound, powerful lyrics and signature guitar riff remain of course.

Opener, Angels, is stunningly beautiful. Soft vocals, simple guitar and minimal drum samples gradually build until the classic guitar chord chimes in and it instantly sounds like an xx track. Singer Romy Madley Croft's voice is literally angelic as she sings: “If someone believed me/They would be as in love as you as I am”

Simple, funky beats sit alongside gentle vocals and clever harmonies in tracks like Chained and Fiction, while Jaime xx's influence is heard loud and clear in the likes of Reunion, where his signature steel drums, first played in solo track, Far Nearer, make an appearance.

What really stands out on this album is the depth of emotion in the vocals from both Oliver Sim and Madley Croft in tracks like Swept Away and Missing, where a real heart-wrenching yearning in their voices gives you shivers as she sings: “My heart is beating in a different way/Been gone such a long time and I feel the same.”

There is undoubtedly some 'sameness' in this album due to the minimal nature of the music and the band's love of similar guitar riffs, and there's also something incredibly familiar about the piano chords on Swept Away, which could have come straight out of Stars. But still, it's an awesome album. We all knew it would be.