The xx x-plain the x-factor behind its x-cellent music

Indie rock band The xx will be playing its first show in Kuala Lumpur this Thursday (Jan 25) at the Malaysian International Trade and Exhibition Center (MITEC). Presented by Upfront Arena, it is part of the band’s I See You Tour Asia to promote its third and latest album, I See You.

Comprising Romy Madley Croft (vocals, lead guitar), Oliver Sim (vocals, bass guitar), and Jamie Smith, also known as Jamie xx (beats, MPC sampler), the band rose from obscurity to win the 2010 Mercury Prize for its self-produced debut album The xx.

The band has released two more albums since – 2012’s Coexist and I See You last year.

Ahead of its first ever Malaysian show, the band took some time to answer an email interview with Star2.

1) You’ve played in Singapore before, but this is your first time in Malaysia. What can we expect, and will there be something different from your previous Singapore shows?

We’re really excited to be visiting Malaysia for the first time – we always change parts of the show during tours and so hopefully there will be something special about our first show there.

2) You took four years to come up with the new album. What did the three of you do in between albums, besides touring?

We love being involved in music and culture all the time. When we’re not on tour, we’re writing or working on other projects with musical friends. Jamie does a lot of production work and deejaying as well.

3) Three albums in, your sound seems to have matured somewhat, but you still retain that very minimalist and laid-back, chill kind of vibe that is your signature style. Do you see yourselves doing anything different in the future?

We had this thing with the first two records that we would only write music that we could perform live – and for I See You, we started to pick this apart a bit. We’ve certainly taken in more external influences as well, and who knows where it will go next!

4) You won the Mercury prize with your very first album. Did you have to deal with a lot of expectations after that for your subsequent albums?

I think there was a pressure with the second album Coexist to stick to the same processes and style that had made the first album successful. One of the most rewarding things about making I See You was that we forced ourselves out of these modes and could challenge the expectations a bit more.

5) Can you briefly tell us the themes and philosophies that were behind each of The xx’s three albums?

I think our first album was where we established the sound that most people know us by. And then Coexist was a refinement of that – we worked in a very similar way on the first two albums – and so ended up taking out a lot of elements keeping it very minimal. By I See You I think we started to take influences from further afield – it’s certainly a more open record. It’s about how we see each other, as sometimes you can see a friend better than you can see yourself.


Tickets for the concert are priced at RM 330, and are available through Ticketpro (all tickets subject to a ticketing fee of RM4). For more information, visit Upfront’s event page. The event is organised by Freeform, and presented by Upfront Arena.

 

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