I See You by
The xx
ahh I know everyone here is dying for my great and correct opinion on this album so here it is:
I had said before that I found
In Colour to grow stale as time went by - and I think that's because it falls through the cracks of any niche sound I want to listen to. At it's heart it's a shallow house album, and it shouldn't be a surprise my favorite tracks were the ones with guest appearances ("Seesaw" and "Stranger in a Room"), which not coincidentally are the most "xx" sounding songs on it. The rest is pretty unmemorable, which is probably not a great thing as this is more direct or forthright than
The xx albums.
And as I say that I think
The xx as a band have a certain shallowness to them as well. Their themes are at best vague or all-incorporating, bordering on the never-been-done-before "hey have you ever
liked someone; I mean
like-liked someone before?" It's not hard to find some commonality there because it can pretty much apply to anyone with a pulse. But I like both of their previous albums a lot and I think it's because the rest of their sound doesn't jar against that - it's very stark and slow and subtle. They aren't dumb, but they are unassuming. And they're great albums.
So
I See You sort of seems like the middle ground between the two. In a way I feel like that's a bad strategy - to meander within different zones, but I'd probably like it less if it went closer to
In Colour. It's got a bit of the same hokey near-club electronics and some out of place samples ("Say Something Loving" would be way better without that one distorted sample repeated throughout). My favorite tracks are most likely the ones that wouldn't seem out of place on their other albums ("A Violent Noise, "Replica" and "I Dare You" f.ex, but "Lips" falls into a category of its own. It has a more obvious beat and the build up
almost drops, but in way that works well. The "your love, your shadow" sample might be unnecessary imo but it doesn't ruin it. If they are going to shift their sound a bit id prefer they do it that way. It's not as subdued as their earlier stuff, but it also doesn't sound like it's trying to be something it's not. It's a good mix, but the rest of the album isn't really like it. Overall I like album enough, but I don't love it like the other two. It just doesn't flow as well - each song doesn't really play off the last. But hey it's the xx and it's good and ill listen to it more for sure.
once again I am correct in my analysis thanks for reading