The xx - "s/t"

The xx may be a little too solemn for my tastes. And by solemn, I mean I don't don black lipstick or eyeliner, or wear scuffed black leather held together by a series of giant safety pins, or have chains that connect nipple rings to nose rings to brow studs. Yeah, The xx definitely fall outside of my typical categorizations of music that I could consistently listen to, and probably deserve the "regret buying" tag that inevitably rears its ugly head every once and while when you sample new music often. Sometimes these first impressions can be reversed upon further, deeper review, and I have given The xx a fair shot by letting itself play out at night while reading, or while painting my fingernails black by candlelight (jk). But after a number of listens, I've determined--probably forcibly realized is the better term--that the bottom line is simple: this just isn't for me.

However, there is something to be said about the instrumentation on this album: it's crisp, and every note is perfectly executed. Opener "Intro"--which initially persuaded me to check out the album as a whole--and "Crystalised" are the best examples of this precision. I could probably live with these two songs on my iPod, because they are songs that are driven by the craft of skilled musicians. I think that I could find this aspect much more favorable throughout the rest of the The xx were it not for the constant glum, and the shifting conversational style of lyrics. That I cannot overcome.