Even the names are similar! And by that I mean to compare this release from British chill-popsters The xx to that of mysterious Swedish caribbean-popsmiths jj. No, I'm not just basing their similarity on something as simple as ABC (literally) or on their odd, shared love of lowercase letters. In fact, there's actually quite a few reasons why The xx's xx and jj's nº2 should be mentioned in the same breath.
For one, they've both released two of the best debut records of the year, mining a specific sound (jj: tropical sunshine music following in the footsteps of their label-heads The Tough Alliance; The xx: shivering, often sparse electro-pop more in the vein of The Knife) and spinning consistently addictive, bite-sized tracks (only one cut here stretches past the five minute mark) that exemplify said sound and never tire it out. This is in part because both records are so short; they each skirt the 30 minute mark, which is perfect because neither ever overstays its welcome.
And though both albums sound very different from each other save a few cursory similarities (the earnest boy/girl vocal dynamics, the single instrumental piece inclusion, and their totally welcome approach to recording that treats a release as something to be played as a whole rather than a singles comp), there's one more reason to pair the two: Where as jj's nº2 was the perfect record for its moment (an album full of bright, bursting summertime anthems released at the very beginning of July, when summer's end was nowhere in sight), so too have The xx done with their self-titled debut. (An appropriately timed come-down for those ready for a nighttime record as daytime means schooldays means more of a drag.) See, I told you the comparison was about more than those band names.
The good news: As much as I love that jj record (a worthy successor to The Tough Alliance's own watershed set of ear-worms, A New Chance), The xx's debut might be even better. Possibly this is because I'm in less of a summer mood these days or simply because there's more material here (over ten minutes more) than on jj's release. Either way, I find myself drawn to this album over just about anything new out there for eager ears.
Why? Oh, let me count the ways: the tuneful bliss and wistful romanticism of "Islands" ("I am yours now," the boy and girl vocalists sing in unison); the thump-pause-thump of bass pulses illustrating the titular promise of "Heart Skipped A Beat"; the smooth, early-Feist-esque torch song "Shelter" (which really showcases female singer Romy Madley Croft's vulnerable and aching vocal – which also, appropriately, sounds an awful lot like one of the mysterious vocalists in the jj collective); and the fierce smack and dissonant guitar chords accompanying the memorable refrain of "I can give it up / to someone else's touch" on perhaps the record's best track (if you were to ask at this moment), "Infinity."
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