[Navin]

About time!

[Sh!n-chan]

My body is ready

[sticks]

Their NYC date sold out from the presale alone. Hoping they'll add another date.

[sticks]

Slash, I think this is going to be the cover.

[sticks]

“Do you want a Solero, Mini Milk, Magnum, or a Cornetto?” asks Oliver Sim. The xx singer and bassist is darting around his label XL Recordings’ London office, taking orders for an ice cream run. It’s the Tuesday following the band’s three intimate recent comeback shows and the first broiling-hot day of summer. The three-piece aren’t exactly making any sartorial concessions to the sweaty climes, though— Sim sweeps out to the corner shop in a floor-length black woolen coat, and when singer/guitarist Romy Madley Croft and producer/percussionist Jamie Smith eventually emerge from the office’s basement studio, she’s swathed in black, and he’s in a heavy fisherman’s jumper. An upcoming appearance on Goths in Hot Weather is hardly out of the question.

At the moment, Smith is ensconced in the studio, submarine-style, mixing the final parts of their forthcoming sophomore album, Coexist, due out September 11. He’s rented a hotel room around the corner from the label’s west London headquarters to bunker down, though he admits it’s unlikely he’ll sleep there much, preferring to keep nocturnal hours. “Leave Jamie down there as long as possible,” says the band’s publicist, who later tells a story of how Smith foiled a burglary at XL while working on the band’s debut album, back in the wee hours of a night in early 2009.

As revealed at recent shows at Battersea Arts Centre and last weekend’s Primavera festival, the follow-up to the xx’s subtle, sensual self-titled debut contains house-like elements, but they tell me there’s a more reverential and intimate side to the record that remains hidden for now. As Oliver finishes his second ice cream, we mosey up to the roof to unfold some of Coexist’s as-yet-unheard facets.

Pitchfork: Where did you record the new album?


Romy Madley Croft: There were a couple of places in London. We had a room in Dalston that we shared with the Horrors. We would go through their studio, which was behind a grate that’s a shop front, and then go into a room with no windows. It was quite scary. We did a lot of writing and developing songs live in there. Then Jamie found this studio a bit over towards Angel. It’s not soundproofed— just a room, really. There’s black velvet on the walls to dampen the sound; I love it. That’s really where the album was made, we’ve been in there since autumn.


Pitchfork: Wasn’t the original plan to start at end of 2010?


Oliver Sim: Initially yes, but I’m surprised we started writing as soon as we did. I thought we would come home, spend some time apart, and just enjoy ourselves— but then I realized music is what I do for a hobby as well.

Pitchfork: What were those early writing and rehearsal sessions like?


RMC: Just being creative again— we were 16 when we wrote some of the songs on the first album, and I think that moment of making new music is really exciting. Obviously, we knew we had to make an album eventually, but those first sessions were purely, “Oh, let’s try this and do it for the love of it.”

Pitchfork: Was the writing process different on the new record?


RMC: We [Madley Croft and Sim] experimented with being more open with each other in our writing, but it’s still very similar to how it was before. If anything, actually, we’ve started writing in opposite ways. On the first album, I was writing very much from experience, and very openly. This time, I’ve done the same, but I’ve also been talking to people I know about their relationships and taking that in and imagining myself in that situation: writing from a more observational role. Also, playing live and doing bigger shows and festivals— things that we had never done— definitely made us think, “This would be fun to play…” when writing.

OS: Because the first record was written from the age of, like, 15 to 19, I was writing much more from a place of observation, and my expectations about how I saw things to be in the future. On this record, it’s been more about my personal experiences. And we’ve written a couple of songs in a way that we’ve never done before, where we’ve gone into a room with absolutely nothing and written from scratch. That’s taken a lot more communication and openness, which has been really nice.



RMC: It’s a bit of an experience. With emailing back and forth, you don’t have to disclose everything about a song. Before, we wouldn’t explain what we were saying, but it’s more laid-bare now.


Pitchfork: Jamie, did your role change at all? The new songs seemed more rhythmically complex.



Jamie Smith: I don’t think they’re more complex, but I know a bit more now. I didn’t really know what I was doing before. There was a period when we were making this album where I was struggling because I had just come off doing a load of production for other people, so I had to re-learn how to produce for us as friends rather than somebody I hardly knew, or just for myself. I’m not great at meeting new people, so it was really nice to be back in the room with my two best friends. And the final thing is actually quite similar to how we made the first record. We tried not to over-complicate things, even though we could have done. 




Pitchfork: Some of the new songs you played live felt quite dancey rather than reverential.


JS: There are definitely dance influences because, when we went home, we went out dancing quite a lot. We spent a lot of time in the U.S., which didn’t really have such a progressive dance music scene, so it was nice to come back. That sound has occurred in the album but not as much as you might think from hearing our recent live shows. 



RMC: There’s quite a few songs on the album that are slower and have a different atmosphere. We’re saving them and still working them out. But I definitely think that this album goes more into a house-y side of things than the first one. When we were playing live on the last tour, we were remixing the ends of songs, and we liked that element.

Pitchfork: The first album was made with a young set of references and inspirations— what new things did you discover that fed into the new record?



OS: I realized how much of an influence [Madley Croft and Smith] are on me more than I did the first time around. I think it was the experience of working with Romy actually in the room. On “Infinity”, on the last album, we kind of went into a room together, and shared parts, and fit them together. But having this experience was a bit eye-opening. And there’s another massive music thing: Sade.



RMC: It’s true. We were watching YouTube clips of her interviews and thought she was really cool. We became a bit obsessed.



OS: It got to the point— and it still kind of is the case— where she was taking up a majority of what I listened to.

Pitchfork: Were there any life events that shaped the record, whether in terms of the production or lyrical content?


RMC: The whole album is about learning and growing up together and moving on and being adults. And relationships: They’re still all love songs, but there’s past and present. 


Pitchfork: You must be aware that many people have had very meaningful experiences along with your first album. Is that something you think about or find strange in any way?



RMC: It’s interesting. In doing interviews over the course of a couple of years, you hear stories. In Europe, we’ve had some funny ones where a man in his 50s or 60s would be like, “Your song reminds me of the time I lost my virginity.” These people want to share with you, and they’ll come up to you and say they got together to this song, and it’s quite overwhelming. It’s been entertaining; you don’t imagine those things when you’re writing a song.

http://pitchfork.com/features/update..._name=features

[Clump]

They better praise Sade

[ManDown]

This is going to be the album of the year - without a doubt. The songs they've performed thus far are ****ing amazing.

[Eric.]

I love the artwork.

[ElectricFrancis]

September is going to be EPIC

I need this album like NOOOOW

[Adzkane]

Right, we need a first single now. I think this album will do better than their debut as they built a solid foundation of fans with that - and with Coexist, I think they will explode!

[Graduation]

OP edited with new album artwork, information on the first single, tracklisting for Coexist, as well as new U.S. tour dates.

Links to iTunes preorders will be available at midnight. Stay tuned.

[Adzkane]

Got my copy from iTunes already. Didn't have to pre-order the album to get it either. The song is stunning!

[ManDown]

All of this news at once. I really hope they come to Cleveland!

I love the album cover. It's just what I was hoping for; a lighter version of their last. And I like the design on the x.

"Angels" is beautiful, by the way.

[ManDown]

Here's the album cover in 1500x1500 resolution. Flawless.

[Nico...]

Originally posted by ManDown

This is going to be the album of the year - without a doubt. The songs they've performed thus far are ****ing amazing.

IKR?

[ManDown]

http://itunes.apple.com/us/preorder/coexist/id542012437

Preorder is up in the USA now! As well as the "Angel" single!

[bleuwaffle]

Angels is so good

[Lil Misty]

I'm ready I am READYYYYY

[sticks]

Do you guys like that Oliver doesn't sing on Angels?

I kind of do.

Slash, I really want to get tickets for this fall. Their opener for the new dates is Chairlift, who are really good!

[Eric.]

^ Me too, I really don't like his voice much. The only time it REALLY worked on the last album was for "Stars."

Chairlift + The xx. How lucky.