The xx lay out all of their pieces beautifully. There are no extraneous parts. Not a second that they didn’t intend.
The world adored the xx's Mercury Prize-winning debut album xx. Coexist is, if anything, an even finer piece of work.
What could have been an overly ambitious sophomore effort is instead a concise, novella of an album that makes a deep impression and leaves a mark as it drifts away.
Coexist presents a version of The xx that listeners will recognize, but cleans everything up a bit, subtly stretching and improving the formula that won acclaim.
So sultry and sensual it makes The xx sound like beginners’ luck, Coexist is going to be the midnight soundtrack to thousands of seductions over the next few decades.
It’s exciting to hear the minimalist U.K. trio approach their new-crush odes with such austerity in Coexist — just a few steady-droning Casios and an 808 rhythm that buh-bumps like a heartbeat.
The end result is a quieted, more suppressed record that steps delicately from one note to the next and shines even more of a spotlight on the twin vocal sentiments of longing and crumbled romance.
While the basic formula remains, Coexist lingers longer in the realm of sub-bass than its predecessor. Its low frequencies, irregular rhythms and slow-burning dance beats creep into the songs and draw us in deeper.
Coexist is yet another masterpiece of lush asceticism.
For the most part Coexist's songs are defined as much by space as by sound. The gaps bring greater emphasis to the spidery guitar lines, the occasional steel pan, the distant icicles of piano, and the voices of Romy Madley-Croft and Oliver Sim.
While the lyrics are a little lacking, the sonics remain impressive enough to divert attention.
This album is one that begs to be lived with for a long period of time, its quiet details given ample room to germinate.
If it sounds a lot like the band’s first album it also sounds like they’ve worked hard to maintain that level of poise.
Their second album is a paean to silence. Compressed and contracted by the most minimal of arrangements, the spaces are where you’ll find the band’s emotional secrets.
Jamie Smith’s production is hugely impressive ... His contribution is just one eye-opening facet of a painfully sparse but also startlingly good album, one that almost disintegrates under the weight of its own sadness.
Coexist is defined by its moments of silence and spaces between. The album is coloured and shaded gently by textural accents rather than big shifts in mood, or climaxes.
Like their debut, ‘Coexist’ works best when enjoyed as a complete album, the band able to lull you slowly into their own world for 35-minutes.
The album is a testament to what makes them great artists: the ability to take influences and mix in some of their own original thought to create that signature sound.
Coexist surges forward and retreats within itself more than its predecessor but still never breaks the surface, existing in the liminal space between a song and a thought.
Overall, it’s a successful return, and a record that demonstrates the success of their debut wasn’t a fluke and that The xx truly are masters of musical alchemy.
What makes this music special is what Smith does with all that stylized sparseness, transforming it into something alive and dynamic instead of merely sleepy. Millions of late-night love-letter authors will be grateful.
It hides more than ‘xx’ did, sneaking its miserable joys behind bare spaces, surprise time signatures and subtle dramas.
The most appealing thing about this record is that this band, having created a brilliant and moving sound, returns to it again for another 38 minutes.
It’s a calculated tradeoff: use space and silence to heighten an album’s intimacy, lose some immediacy.
The basest summation of Coexist is that it’s an xx album on which the songwriting isn’t as good, but the production is better.
It's a good follow-up, just not a great one. More annoyingly, it feels like it could have been better.
Coexist's exploration of isolation and intimacy is demanding and rewarding in its bold subtlety and eloquent simplicity.
Neither spectacular or deflating, Coexist is simply the sound of the xx, more or less just as we left it: minimalist, intuitive, romantic and enchanting.
On their second LP, as on their 2009 debut, the Londoners are masters of restraint, building songs from simple chord progressions, delicate guitar and keyboard ostinatos, the gentle rub of Romy Madley-Croft and Oliver Sim's his-and-hers croons – and, most of all, from silence.
Despite the fact that Coexist is both gorgeous and thoughtful, it’s difficult not to be disappointed by its anticlimactic drift.
Coexist is a more sombre, earnest affair; it’s mostly languid, without any of the dancefloor fodder that made the first such a joy.
It’s hard not to feel that one of the year’s most anticipated releases only keeps you waiting and waiting for something more to happen.
Yes, it's as laid-back and relaxing as pop music can get, but the sparseness has transcended the band's aesthetic and wormed its way into their hitherto impressive creative oeuvre
Coexist is definitely an album for the cocktail hour or for red wine. Alcohol has always been a prop to romance, but only in the short term: where xx was an album that got its hooks in you, Coexist becomes a somnolent atmosphere-in-itself, in which hooks are conspicuous by their absence.
It's beautiful, but not mind-blowing.
Coexist, the second studio album by British indie pop band The xx, is a stunning and cohesive work of art. Released in 2012, it builds on the group's signature sound of sparse arrangements and hushed vocals, but with a newfound maturity and emotional depth.
From the opening track "Angels," which sets the tone with its delicate guitar and haunting vocals, to the mesmerizing "Chained," Coexist takes the listener on a journey through the ... read more
Imagine if all of our album covers were just X’s haha wouldn’t that be funny
This feels like a step down from their debut. Their debut had so much character, and while it was still simple, it showed a lot more interesting ideas that it built off of. Here, it kinda just feels like they are using the same ideas over and over again, to where the songs just sorta blend together and don’t have much character to them. They don’t really stand out that much, and most of the ... read more
While The xx didn’t keep the adventure of their self-titled debut on Coexist, they definitely didn’t lose the interest.
The echoing, bright sounds and the union between the two vocalists create a soundscape that I can't help but find charming.
Coexist was also an album that was released during my time at university so it puts me in a time and place that is special on a personnel level.
After their debut album "xx" they maintained the shy and chilly vibe to their sound and, although there's some highlights, it just seems an extended version of their first work. Not that I think that is somehow bad since the first take was grand, it just feels it's making the same step but with some little less care to it, like a guaranteed victory. Which is not.
I have to say that I truly love "Angels" and "Try". Other than that, it has the same feeling I ... read more
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