Coexist is the second studio album by English indie pop band the xx. It was released 5 September 2012 by the Young Turks record label.
After a break from touring for their 2009 self-titled first album, the xx's band members began to write songs individually before they recorded Coexist from November 2011 to May 2012. For the album, the group drew on personal experiences for their songwriting, while their music was influenced by the electronic dance scene that occurred when they had been away on tour. It was produced by the band's Jamie Smith, who had pursued electronic dance on other projects and developed as a DJ prior to the album.
Coexist features a minimalist musical style with spatial arrangements, loose song structure, minimal variation in dynamics, and experimentation with tension. Its songs are characterised by sparse elements such as simple chord progression, keyboard ostinatos, and fading motifs, while Smith's production incorporates both programmed beats and live percussion instruments. The lyrics, written by guitarist Romy Madley Croft and bassist Oliver Sim, feature inner monologue and simple metaphors to explore a failing relationship and the emotional dynamics of a romance.
The album debuted at number one on the United Kingdom's Official Albums Chart while selling 58,266 copies. It also charted in the top 10 in several other countries and was eventually certified platinum by the Independent Music Companies Association, having sold at least 400,000 copies in Europe. To promote the album, four songs were released as singles, including "Angels" and "Chained", while the xx toured during June to December 2012 throughout Europe and North America. Critically, Coexist was also a success, with several music publications ranking it as one of the year's top-ten albums.
Background In 2009, the xx released their self-titled debut album to critical acclaim. It was certified platinum in the United Kingdom and also sold 350,000 copies in the United States. It showcased their characteristically moody, R&B and post-dubstep-influenced indie pop style and lyrical themes of loneliness, lust, and love. After the departure of group member Baria Qureshi, the xx exclusively played live concerts throughout 2010, including several high-profile summer music festivals, and garnered a growing fanbase. The band's popularity grew further when their songs featured in television shows and commercials, and they were also covered and sampled by well-known recording artists. In 2010, their debut album won the Mercury Prize, an annual music prize awarded for the best record from the UK and Ireland.
Following an exhausting tour, the xx went on a break. The band's producer and percussionist Jamie Smith pursued electronic dance styles on other musical projects, creating remixes for Radiohead, Adele, and Florence and the Machine. He also collaborated on Gil Scott-Heron's 2011 album We're New Here, and produced Drake's 2012 song "Take Care". The latter exemplified and helped popularise the xx's sound as well. A novice to DJing when starting out with the xx, he subsequently learned its technical aspects and developed a grasp on controlling the crowd through unexpected silences and drops during his live sets.
Writing and recording
In 2011, the xx opened their own recording studio in London and began writing songs for Coexist during the summer. Each member—guitarist Romy Madley Croft, bassist Oliver Sim, and Smith—wrote music individually and recorded snippets using GarageBand or their phones. Both Croft and Sim drew on personal experiences and wrote more direct lyrics than on the band's debut to express complex emotions. Sim said of his songwriting for Coexist, "I found myself being a lot less 'moons and stars' and being a lot more literal." Croft felt more expectations from listeners than when the band debuted and consequently turned to more personal songwriting for Coexist:
They wrote, recorded, and emailed music back and forth to each other before working together in a rehearsal space in East London. When he first read them, Smith found Croft and Sim's lyrics to be "purposely ambiguous so people can relate to them", saying in an interview for Uncut, "I mean... if I listen carefully, I do know about their lives intimately so I can guess what they're about. But they don't even tell each other what they're singing about."
The xx started recording Coexist in November 2011, and used a photography studio in North London to record the songs they had put together. They later used the rehearsal space in East London to practice playing the songs live. They recorded for six months in London and intended to finish before their scheduled music festival appearances for 2012. The xx's direction for the album was partly inspired by the electronic dance scene that occurred while they toured for their first album, as well as the live DJ sets of Smith, who was mostly listening to dark Chicago house music at the time. According to him, "We left [to tour] when we were 17 and we missed out on that chunk of our lives when everyone else was partying." However, he insisted that "we're not looking to make people dance." They were also influenced by pop-reggae band UB40, folk act White Hinterland, and neo soul artist Van Hunt, all of whom they listened to while recording Coexist. Croft viewed the music as a continuation of their debut, "developed, but [not] like completely a world away".
Rather than expand on their debut's sound, the xx wanted to minimise the songs they recorded for Coexist and mute certain elements during its production. Croft felt that this would help make the music more playable live instead of having to reproduce multiple vocal or guitar elements that were tracked onto a song. Smith, who produced and mixed Coexist, wanted to keep his production simple and create an emotive, electronic sound. He used Logic Pro recording software, a Space Echo effects unit, preamplifiers, and Casiotones on occasion, as well as both synthesised steelpan sounds and live percussion instruments. To engineer the album, he put together a mixing desk from pieces of other desks and left doors open during the recording to let sounds from outside the studio bleed into the mix. The xx finished recording Coexist in May 2012.
Musical style
The songs on Coexist, which Edna Gundersen of USA Today categorised as indie pop, eschew melodic structure for minimalist dynamics and sparse sounds. John Calvert of Fact asserts that it is "a far more meditative album" for deviating from its predecessor's "tight, brisk pop songs", "nuanced [guitar] interplay", and "light dynamics". Jon Caramanica of The New York Times comments that songs "unfold ... beginning as pointillist sketches and ending up as huge, blurry color blocks." Reflecting the band's electronic dance influences, Coexist features atmospheric, dance-orientated song structures, deemphasises traditional verse-chorus form, and incorporates influences from dubstep and rave music. Drowned in Sounds Hayden Woolley writes that the music features "watercolour textures and rhythms that seem to lock-in to the ebbing pulse and cadences of the body." Rory Gibb of The Quietus believes that Coexist is neither a "pop" nor "downtempo dance record", but occupies "a hazy space between the two" and is an attempt at "post-Burial pop". Simon Price of The Independent asserts that "rather than clubland, Coexist owes a debt to comedown/chillout culture".
The songs are characterised by droning harmonies, simple chord progression, keyboard ostinatos, ringing guitar, resounding reverb, slight bass grooves, and programmed beats. Sim plays counterpoint melodies on his bass, while Croft plays angular figures, sketchy musical patterns, and melodies developed from two-note intervals; Price likens Croft's use of the guitar to playing a harp. Smith's production is largely responsible for the music's lowest frequency sounds and incorporates both four on the floor and 2-step beats, subtle BPM changes, heartbeat-like drum machine rhythms, strings, and live percussion such as timpani, snare drums, and steelpans. The latter instrument is played in arpeggio and exhibits Jamaican music influences. Critic Will Hermes views Smith as a more prominent contributor on Coexist than on the debut album and comments that "the beats and musical backdrops are more varied and command more attention."
The songs are also spatially arranged and experiment with tension, including listeners' expectations for a hook to unfold, a dance beat to develop, and a time signature to change. Elements such as drum beats, vocals, and guitar motifs fade to silence throughout the songs. Kitty Empire of The Observer comments that "no pattern here hangs around for more than a couple of bars, and rarely in multiples of four." Stephen Thompson of NPR comments on the music's lack of dynamism, writing that the band "lets its songs billow out softly and quietly, with only achingly pretty guitar lines to lessen the tension." Michael Hann of The Guardian writes that the album refines the band's "already skeletal frame" and that most of its songs are "defined as much by space as by sound", adding that the music's "gaps bring greater emphasis" to guitar, piano, and vocal elements. Melissa Locker of Time comments that "each sound, be it instrument or voice, is given ample room to exist and to soar."
Lyrics and themes
Coexist deals with themes of heartbreak, loneliness, and intimacy. Croft and Sim share lead vocals, which occasionally overlap in call and response interplay and slow crescendos. Sim, who cites Sade as an influence, has more assured vocals, while Croft sings in a shyer style and exhibits catches in her voice. The lyrics focus on a failing relationship and changes in a romance. Will Ryan of Beats Per Minute writes that they follow "the back-and-forth complexities of a fractured relationship that ... explores a wilderness of residual feelings left over after said relationship has collapsed." Garry Mulholland of Uncut interprets the album to be "the story of a relationship broken by the protagonists' tendency to love too much while being unable to express their need to each other." Eric Sundermann of The A.V. Club views that the album's songs "all focus on different stages of romantic love, from infatuation to frustration to all the other stuff that falls in between." Kevin Liedel of Slant Magazine felt that the songs follow-up on the "lovebirds" from the xx's debut album, "now separated and devastated ... mus[ing] on what went wrong". Puja Patel of Spin remarks that the band's "fantastical, elemental star-crossed-lover talk has been replaced by evocations of a harder, more aggressively worked-at love". Most of the songs have single-word titles that evoke long sentiments.