The remarkable thing about ‘I See You’ is that it doesn’t tire – quite the opposite, it grows with every single listen.
The most eclectic, multidimensional, and ambitious album of The xx’s young career.
The band retains its core strengths (pillowtalk vocals, echoing, urbane guitar lines) while expanding its sonic reach and stretching for the bleacher seats. It’s an excellent and surprisingly comforting way to begin 2017.
‘I See You’ is perhaps the bravest album of the band’s career, the one laden with the most changes, with the most prolonged journeys into the unexpected. Yet it also feels resolutely like The xx.
Fragile, confident, vulnerable, enchanting; The xx just keep on perfecting on perfection.
With I See You, The xx is forming a new scene. The couple from the first scene finally made it together and they’re crazing about each other. Problem is, life got harder for the two and the relationship has strained. Nothing feels the same anymore, life’s pleasures don’t feel as good as they used to.
The xx have taken in all the experiences and lessons they have learned since their breakthrough and come up with their most adventurous and quietly uplifting release to date.
I See You is a much-needed and very successful recalibration of what defines the xx as a band. Without sacrificing any of the confessional, emotionally rich material that made us love them in the first place, the band has dispensed with self-consciousness and proven their ability to expand upon previously held identities, thus cementing their continuing preeminence in the indie music world.
Throughout the album you can still hear the band's penchant for complex arrangements, dreampop vocals, and the call and response storytelling between Oliver Sim and Romy Croft. No genre is off limits for the U.K. outfit: the band experiments with pop, R&B, jazz, and even gospel this time around.
I See You, the third album by the xx, sounds like an attempt to incorporate everyone’s talents into a new version of their sound, one true to their roots but richer and more varied.
Add up the creative sampling and the synchronized dancing, and we get a revamped version of The xx that hinges less on awkwardness and anxiety and more on another, unexpected “A” word: ambition.
On I See You, The xx have expanded their horizons without sacrificing any of the emotional intimacy that makes them one of the most compelling acts around.
Although there’s plenty of The XX’s patient nocturnal music on show, their third album I See You carefully expands upon the dance side of this coalition without breaking the harmony between the two genres.
The xx have managed to kick off 2017 with more vibrancy, heart and poetic fusions, whilst maintaining an undoubtedly individual presence in the music industry.
The band succeed in bringing some light into the picture while also acknowledging that some of those feelings of anxiety or inadequacy are still there.
These splashes of new musical colour correspond with a growing confidence and maturity in the songs themselves, but the overall mood remains intensely vulnerable.
Using samples for the first time, they have tweaked their sound in myriad ways, while still retaining the sense of proximity within spaciousness for which they are famous.
I See You is more redemptive and enlightened than anything The xx have done before, but if you are just as heartbroken now as their first two albums then the record still has much to offer.
I See You may represent a sonic shift towards the light, but The Xx are still singing dark songs concerned with introspection, heartache and regret. The more things change, the more they stay the same. Good.
While nothing will compare to the band's exceedingly unattainable debut, it is refreshing to see the band learn from their mistakes on Coexist and create something new and intriguing, but still ultimately them.
On ‘I See You’ we meet a new tactile version of The xx. They’re relaxed, warm, joyful even ... They find a balance with the old xx though. Fragility and self-doubt are still themes.
I See You is a sprawling album. The band has embraced the spectacle, yet it is not the antithesis of their previous minimalist work.
‘I See You’ sees the trio taking full advantage of the producer’s big league status, applying his trademark to their traditionally gloomy, loved-up pop. But it’s also a record that sees co-vocalists Romy Madley Croft and Oliver Sim taking on bold new territory.
This is the sound of the xx growing up and examining how far they’ve travelled. I See You is more nuanced and upbeat than their previous records but, perhaps shrewdly, it enhances their blueprint rather than completely redrawing it.
I See You is some of their most captivating music since their debut.
I See You [reveals] a more mature sound, one where the songwriting is top-notch and the intertwining vocals are more polished and mesmerizing than ever.
I See You pulls off the feat of managing to sound both exactly like the xx and unlike anything they have done before.
I See You is a pleasant enough listen, and in embracing Smith’s more hot-blooded production, the xx have avoided becoming stuck in a rut a second time. Yet like Sim and Madley-Croft in song after song, I See You still leaves me wanting something undefined: something more.
The xx have never been so unguarded, either emotionally or in their musical ambitions. The result is as haunting as ever.
The xx largely avoided any major pitfalls here, coming out the other side with a consistently rewarding pop album that retains enough of their sonic signature to please old fans and enough new sounds to pique the interest of the unconvinced.
With a few flourishes and tweaks, the band have proven themselves to be something greater than originally anticipated.
The xx’s heavily hinted-at pop confidence has arrived, to frequently exhilarating and occasionally deflating effect.
The record passes by pleasantly and there is much to be commended but I See You seldom truly penetrates.
Hushes and pockets of space fall away and there is a strain to fill those gaps and move toward a musical extroversion. The album, then, becomes stuck in a middle ground between past and future.
The erstwhile minimalists have never made a record that sounds so glossy and full, but there’s not enough production polish in the world to mask the the hurt and the vulnerability at its core.
I See You is more musically engaging than its lackluster predecessor, but the awkward sadness and sensuality remain.
Self-conscious, insincere melodrama reigns on I See You, and those pressured silences that were once The xx’s trademark have lost their power.
I really miss the xx - the beauty in their work is something that I really appreciate. The combination of Jamie xx's minimalist production and the vocalists' hushed and delicate tone creates something really unique that is endearing and warm. Listening to this album again is a nice reminder of their sound, and it feels like a loving embrace from an old friend. I've definitely cooled off a little bit on this album though - even though it's quite charming to listen to, it feels like many of the ... read more
How do you see me wtf >:(
This is a good album. That’s about it lol. I definitely like it more than Coexist but honestly there’s not too much that stands out sorta besides Replica and Test Me. It’s pleasant on the ears, there’s good production and the vocals are nice. I just don’t think any of their albums live up to their debut, which I love a lot. So yeah, I enjoyed it but didn’t have as much of an impression on me comparatively.
Dangerous - 7.5
Say ... read more
1. Dangerous (4:10) 4/5
2. Say Something Loving (3:58) 3/5
3. Lips (3:21) 3/5
4. A Violent Noise (3:48) 4/5
5. Performance (4:06) 4/5
6. Replica (4:09) 4/5
7. Brave for You (4:13) 5/5
8. On Hold (3:44) 5/5
9. I Dare You (3:53) 5/5
10. Test Me (3:55) 3/5
On their last project to date, "I See You" is a more upbeat listen compared to their last two albums. It has a very tight production but sometimes it gets a little lost as we go through it. Separately, if not in one order, it sounds good. It doesn't get tiring, it's bold and effective. But the magic sparkle is not as present as their previous jobs. Nonetheless, it's still a great take with them trying to try something different.
1 | Dangerous 4:10 | 84 |
2 | Say Something Loving 3:58 | 84 |
3 | Lips 3:20 | 83 |
4 | A Violent Noise 3:47 | 80 |
5 | Performance 4:06 | 73 |
6 | Replica 4:09 | 78 |
7 | Brave for You 4:13 | 75 |
8 | On Hold 3:44 | 87 |
9 | I Dare You 3:53 | 86 |
10 | Test Me 3:55 | 75 |
#2 | / | Fopp |
#5 | / | OOR |
#7 | / | PopMatters |
#7 | / | Pretty Much Amazing |
#8 | / | Time |
#10 | / | Spectrum Culture |
#12 | / | No Ripcord |
#14 | / | Billboard |
#15 | / | Esquire (US) |
#16 | / | State |