Sara Howie
ARTS EDITOR


It’s been three years since British experimental pop band The xx released their debut album, and they come back at full force with their new album, Coexist.

This band has risen to notoriety with laid back, dreamy sounds, breathy vocals and heavy beats (think make out music). This album is slightly more fast paced than their last, but it is more of the same pared down sound with pretty lyrics about being in love and being together.

That’s the problem. The music is good, sure, but it doesn’t feel like the band has grown enough in the last three years. This album sounds too similar to the last one and it doesn’t venture into new territory. For fans of The xx, this probably isn’t a huge deal.

The band does, however, experiment a bit with new instruments, namely the steelpan, a metal drum often used in world music. This is used to great and unexpected success.

That being said, this album is catchy without being obnoxious. It’s definitely easy to imagine that anyone who listens to it once will probably be listening to it for the rest of the week.

The album is not groundbreaking, but it’s good and maybe that’s all that the band wanted.