CD review: xx - The xx

HEART WARMING: The xx's debut album will wrap itself around your heart and hang on for dear life.

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Simple boy-girl harmonies telling stories of love, loss and loneliness backed by twee-indie pop. Sound familiar? It should to anyone who's heard Kiwi duo The Brunettes.

But, despite their similarities, The xx's debut bring something new to the table by being even more understated than their New Zealand counterparts.

Their accomplished debut album is full of delicate songs - often backed by just a simple drum beat and acoustic guitar plucking - that will wrap around your heart and hang on for dear life.

What makes it even more surprising is all four members of the hyped British act have only just turned 20.

Apart from the unusually rocky opener Intro, all songs here are led by the soothing inter-changing vocal talents of Romy Madley Croft and Baria Qureshi. Very rarely do they come together, but when they do - as on the stand out Crystalised - it's mesmerising.

Elsewhere, Fantasy's occasional dubstep throbs add mood and tension, while the gentle pulse of the Vampire Weekend-ish Islands and VCR's xylophone punctuation marks are executed perfectly.

The Brunettes may have done this first, but xx is an album capable of making you swoon.

* What do you think of The xx? Post your comments below.

- © Fairfax NZ News

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Lones   #2   11:14 am Oct 15 2009

I adore the sound of the XX, I particularly like on the song 'Islands' how the base comes through in a sneaky way, to me, that's by far the standout of the album.

i5   #1   10:37 am Oct 15 2009

Yep, really enjoying it. I was expecting it to go a different way after 'Intro'. 3.5*