I See You (The xx album)

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I See You is the third studio album by English indie pop band the xx. It was released on 13 January 2017 through the Young Turks label. It is the follow-up to Coexist, and is their first release in more than four years.

The band announced the album while announcing frequent collaborator Rodaidh McDonald for its production and reportedly working on it in May 2014. Band member Jamie xx released his solo debut In Colour in May 2015 and reflected that it would influence the sound and aesthetic of I See You.

The xx has stated that the record has a more distinctive sound and a more positive, open and "expansive" concept than the previous two albums. The lead single, "On Hold", was released on 12 November 2016. I See You received widespread acclaim from critics and became the band's second number-one album in the United Kingdom.

Video I See You (The xx album)

Recording and production

The xx announced in May 2014 that they were working on their third studio album with producer Rodaidh McDonald at Marfa Recording Co., a recording studio in Marfa, Texas. According to Mixmag journalist Stephen Worthy, a "watershed" moment had occurred immediately before recording commenced when during a series of New York concerts, the trio--Romy Madley Croft, Oliver Sim, and Jamie Smith--"barely made eye contact with their audience. It was their way of saying goodbye to the old xx". While working on I See You, Croft enrolled in a songwriting course in California, Sim modeled for Christian Dior SE, and Smith released a solo album, 2015's In Colour.

Smith, the xx's producer and multi-instrumentalist, stated that In Colour "definitely informed what we're doing" for I See You, while the band said the record would have a "completely different concept" from their first two albums. They also said the album would sound "more outward-looking, open and expansive". I See You was described by AnyDecentMusic? as an album of indie rock and dream pop music, while Matt Hobbs from God Is in the TV said the xx expanded on the dance portion of their usual fusion of indie and alternative dance sounds. According to Pitchfork's November 2016 update on the album, I See You was ultimately recorded between March 2014 and August 2016 at studios in Marfa, New York City, Los Angeles, London, and Reykjavík.

Maps I See You (The xx album)

Promotion

The album's lead single, "On Hold", was released on 10 November 2016, premiering on the xx's YouTube account ahead of the album's release date being announced. On 19 November, the band performed as the musical guest on the American sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live. "Say Something Loving" was released as the second single on 1 January 2017.

The xx supported I See You with a concert tour of Europe throughout February and March 2017, before performing a series of music festivals in South America, including the Estéreo Picnic Festival in Bogotá and Lollapalooza dates in São Paulo, San Isidro, and Santiago. A North American tour will begin on 14 April at the Coachella Music Festival in Indio, California and conclude on 26 May in Portland, Maine.

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Release and reception

I See You was released on 13 January 2017 by Young Turks to widespread critical acclaim. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 85, based on 35 reviews. According to Kitty Empire, it was hailed by critics as the xx's "least insular album thus far".

Writing for The Guardian, Alexis Petridis said the record "pulls off the feat of managing to sound both exactly like the xx and unlike anything they have done before". He believed the band's willingness to explore musical influences from Smith's In Colour album gave the tracks a "richer and fuller" quality than on their previous records. I See You was called "the most eclectic, multidimensional, and ambitious album of The xx's young career" by Philip Cosores from The A.V. Club, while Entertainment Weekly's Nolan Feeney deemed it "the boldest work yet from a band famous for subtlety". In the opinion of Uncut reviewer Sam Richards, the band "expanded their horizons without sacrificing any of the emotional intimacy that makes them one of the most compelling acts around". Q critic Victoria Segal noted its shared lyrical themes with Coexist and echoes of the "club culture" from In Colour, while concluding that musically, the band were "extending past glories rather than copying them".

Robert Christgau was somewhat less enthusiastic in his review for Vice. He found growth and accessibility in songs such as "On Hold", "Say Something Loving", and "Brave for You", but believed "however impressive their originality and skill, the details always end up getting away" throughout the album's "indistinct murmurs ... because in the end the band's shared aesthetic is so contained." Will Hodgkinson was more critical in The Times, writing that the album failed to "hit the highs of their previous work" while accusing the group of posturing, making note of Croft's "breathy emoting" on "Brave for You".

In the first week of release, I See You sold 26,513 copies in the United Kingdom and debuted at number one on the British albums chart. It was the band's second album to top the chart after Coexist in 2012. In the United States, it debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 and recorded 46,000 album-equivalent units; 36,000 of these were traditional album sales. In Japan, the album entered the Oricon Albums Chart at number 34 and sold 2,073 copies in its first week there.

I See You was nominated for IMPALA's European Album of the Year Award.

Accolades

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Track listing

All lyrics written by Oliver Sim and Romy Madley Croft; all music composed by Jamie Smith, Sim, and Croft; all tracks produced by Smith and Rodaidh McDonald; unless otherwise noted.

Sample credits

• "Say Something Loving" contains a sample of "Do You Feel It", performed by Alessi, and written by Bobby and Billy Alessi, and homage to "The Sweetest Taboo", performed by Sade, and written by Sade Adu and Martin Ditcham.
• "Lips" contains a sample of just (after song of songs) performed by Trio Mediæval, Garth Knox, Agnès Vesterman and Sylvain Lemêtre, and written by David Lang
• "On Hold" contains a sample of "I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)", performed by Daryl Hall & John Oates and written by Sara Allen, Daryl Hall and John Oates
• "Naive" contains a sample of "Doing It Wrong", performed by Drake, and written by Aubrey Graham, Adrian Eccleston, Don McLean and Noah Shebib

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Personnel

Credits adapted from the album's liner notes.

The xx

• Romy Madley Croft - guitar, vocals; keyboards (tracks 2, 10); additional production (tracks 2, 10); art direction, design
• Oliver Sim - bass, vocals; photography
• Jamie Smith - synths, drums, keys; violin (track 5); piano (tracks 6, 11); vocals (track 10); guitar (track 12); production, engineering; programming; mixing; string arrangements (tracks 5, 12)

Additional personnel

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Charts

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Certifications

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References

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External links

• Official website
• I See You at Discogs (list of releases)

Source of the article : Wikipedia