Romy Madley Croft was sitting across from me, answering questions in a mild-mannered whisper. But while she allowed me to record her voice, she wouldn?t allow any photos or video ? leaving Gazette photographer Dario Ayala in a bit of a lurch.
Madley Croft is one of two vocalists for mesmerizingly moody British indie-pop band The xx, which was in town at the end of July for a sold-out performance at Metropolis in a ramp-up to the release of its second album, Coexist (released on Tuesday).
The following afternoon, she and co-singer-songwriter Oliver Sim were trading off interviews. I arrived expecting to talk to Madley Croft. Instead, I got Sim ? after which, with a little haggling, I got Madley Croft, too.
We took photos of Sim, but none of Madley Croft. It was an absurd footnote to a meeting with an idiosyncratic band that makes stylishly unconventional music. And it may be the one way in which these childhood friends and bracingly intimate ? but platonic ? creative partners differ.
Their answers echoed one another, despite the fact that I spoke to each separately. Both were polite, if evasive; their answers were borderline generic at times, never overly revealing, and yet between their soft-spoken platitudes were glimpses of the spark that makes The xx?s spooky soul so compelling.
The band is filled out by percussionist/producer Jamie xx, who ? since his band?s rise to fame ? has earned production and remix gigs with everyone from the late Gil Scott-Heron to Drake, Radiohead and Adele.
His spare beats provide the understatedly funky backdrop over which Madley Croft and Sim?s tag-team whispered vocals, floating bass and guitar lines drift. It makes for an otherworldly ambience, the aftershocks of which can be traced all the way to recent post-soul wunderkinds Frank Ocean and the Weeknd.
The xx?s 2009 debut, xx, won Britain?s coveted Mercury Prize and landed the group on year-end Top 10 lists the world over. Coexist doesn?t mess with the band?s winning formula, but it does impress. They?ve still got it, which entitles Madley Croft to cop her idiosyncratic, shy diva attitude for at least a little longer.
?This album was a different experience,? she said, with frustrating vagueness. ?We were all older, going at it from a different perspective, playing a lot of live shows, seeing more things, having more influences. It was very much the three of us, in quite an isolated way.
?Jamie engineered and produced it. We didn?t have any pressure from the record label or people trying to sway our direction. It was a journey on our own.?
Well, that clears things up quite nicely, thanks. The band?s party line is that this album is about the members coming back to London after three years on tour; making up for lost time; moving out of their parents? homes; and notching some real-life experience from which to write more forlorn tales of heartache.
?It?s still very personal,? Madley Croft said. ?There are similar themes, (such as) longing. They?re all love songs. I got into the idea of lyrics that can summarize complex feelings quite simply.
?I?ve always loved sad songs. Even when I?m happy and having a good time, I?ve always loved that sort of emotion in songs. I?ve started to listen to a lot of disco and house; it carries through, back to classic disco, with people singing, ?This person?s gone, I wish you were here, now I?m dancing about it.?
?It reflects things I?ve gone through as well. I do like writing lighter songs, though, and I?d like to write more. (Coexist opener and first single) Angels is very much a light song. It?s about being happy.?
Enjoy it while you can. Almost every other track on Coexist explores relationships through a prism of breathless desperation. But with the symbiotic interplay between Madley Croft and Sim?s vocal lines, it?s another entrancing affair, to be filed somewhere between maudlin, exquisite and groovily abstract.
?I?m inspired by Drake, Frank Ocean and these people,? Sim said, in response to a question about his band?s ties to modern R&B. ?We had the pleasure of meeting Drake. He said his last album was inspired by us. We said, ?No, our next album was inspired by your second album.?
?It?s hard to distinguish between something you just love listening to and an influence. I?m a fan of melodies ? vocal melodies inspire me a lot; slow jams. In my mind, that?s all I?m doing, is writing slow jams. But they?re probably not coming out like that.?
Coexist is released on Tuesday.
Rating: Four out of five
Podworthy: Sunset
T'Cha Dunlevy
tdunlevy@montrealgazette.com
Twitter:@tchadunlevy
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