THE XX

Brought to you by the A, The xx will play the Rockhal on Friday 23rd November, joining the line-up of Rockhal’s annual Sonic Visions Festival. Since their stunning 2009 debut and despite their unanimous critical acclaim and worldwide platinum sales, The xx have kept their lives out of the spotlight. Their Mercury-winning first album, featuring the über-single Crystalised, was a universally adored instant-classic. What held your attention seeing them live at den Atelier in 2010 was the subtlety of the modulations. Live, every f***ing single note played is as bright and precisely chiselled as a cut diamond, no matter how subdued the song in which it’s set. Romy Madley Croft’s guitar lines are simple but glitter like pools of water in moonlight, trickling across Jamie Smith’s crisp electronic drum patterns, chiming steel pans and plangent keyboards reminiscent of Aphex Twin at his least confrontational. Oliver Sim’s bass fills the spaces between so unobtrusively, you notice it most when he’s not playing at all… The silences inserted into their songs are so pregnant, you want to give them your seat on the bus!