Coexist (album)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Coexist
Studio album by The xx
Released 5 September 2012 (2012-09-05)
Recorded November 2011 – May 2012
Our Studio, London
Genre Indie pop[2]
Length 37:11
Label Young Turks
Producer Jamie xx
The xx chronology

xx
(2009)		 Coexist
(2012)
Singles from Coexist
  1. "Angels"
    Released: 17 July 2012
  2. "Chained"
    Released: 7 August 2012
  3. "Sunset"
    Released: 28 January 2013
  4. "Fiction"
    Released: 12 July 2013

Coexist is the second studio album by English indie pop group The xx, released on 5 September 2012 by Young Turks. After a break from touring for their 2009 debut album xx, the group's members began writing songs individually before recording the album from November 2011 to May 2012. Guitarist Romy Madley Croft and bassist Oliver Sim drew on personal experiences for their songwriting. For Coexist, The xx drew on the electronic dance music that occurred when they were away on tour in 2010. It was produced by group member Jamie xx, who had pursued electronic dance on other projects and developed as a DJ prior to the album.

The album features a minimalist musical style with spatial arrangements, loose song structure, little dynamism, and experimentation with tension. Its songs are characterized by sparse elements such as simple chord progression, sketchy guitar patterns, slight grooves, keyboard ostinatos, and fading motifs. Jamie xx's production incorporates both programmed beats and live percussion instruments. Thematically, Coexist is about heartbreak, loneliness, and intimacy. Croft and Sim's lyrics address a failing relationship and changes in a romance with inner monologues and simple metaphors.

The album was promoted with two singles—"Angels" and "Chained". The xx also toured for the album throughout Europe and North America during June to September and December 2012. Upon its release, Coexist received generally positive reviews from music critics, who complimented Croft and Sim's performances, Jamie xx's production, and the music's refinement of their sound. It debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart, selling 58,266 copies in its first week, and charted in the top 10 in several other territories.

Background

In 2009, The xx released their debut album xx to critical acclaim.[3] It was certified platinum in the United Kingdom and also sold 350,000 copies in the United States.[4][5] It showcased their characteristically moody,[6] R&B and post-dubstep-influenced indie pop style and lyrical themes of loneliness, lust, and love.[4][7] After the departure of group member Baria Qureshi, The xx exclusively played live concerts throughout 2010, including several high-profile summer music festivals,[6] and garnered a growing fanbase.[3] The group'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.[4] In 2010, xx won the Mercury Prize, an annual music prize awarded for the best album from the UK and Ireland.[6]

Following an exhausting tour, The xx went on a break.[3] The group's producer and percussionist Jamie xx pursued electronic dance styles on other musical projects,[8] creating remixes for Radiohead, Adele,[9] 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".[6][10] The latter exemplified and helped popularize The xx's sound as well.[11] 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.[1]

Writing and recording

Romy Madley Croft pursued more personal songwriting after considering listeners' expectations.

In 2011, the group opened their own recording studio in London and began writing songs for Coexist during the summer.[5][12] Each member—guitarist Romy Madley Croft, bassist Oliver Sim, and Jamie xx—wrote music individually and recorded snippets using GarageBand or their phones.[13] Both Croft and Sim drew on personal experiences and wrote more direct lyrics than on xx to express complex emotions.[1] Sim said of his songwriting for Coexist, "I found myself being a lot less 'moons and stars' and being a lot more literal."[1] Croft felt more expectations from listeners than when the group debuted and consequently turned to more personal songwriting for Coexist:

I was sitting at home knowing people were going to hear us and what they were going to say. But late at night when I was writing things down, I eventually got back to writing about myself. And that's good. Because we've got to sing these songs for a while, so it's really important to feel close to them, to feel like they're real.[1]

They wrote, recorded, and emailed music back and forth to each other before working together in a rehearsal space in East London.[13] When he first read them, Jamie xx 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."[7]

The xx started recording Coexist in November 2011,[14] and used a photography studio in North London to record the songs they had put together.[13] They later used the rehearsal space in East London to practice playing the songs live in concert.[13] The group recorded for six months in London and intended to finish before their scheduled music festival appearances in 2012.[15] The xx's direction for the album was partly inspired by the electronic dance scene that occurred during their touring for their debut album,[15] as well as Jamie xx's live DJ sets.[1] Jamie xx, who was mostly listening to dark Chicago house music at the time,[13] said of dance music's influence in an interview prior to the album, "We've all come back off tour and been parting a bit more. We left when we were 17 and we missed out on that chunk of our lives when everyone else was partying."[15] However, he insisted that "we're not looking to make people dance."[16] Their direction was also informed by music they listened to while writing and recording Coexist, including pop-reggae band UB40, folk act White Hinterland, and neo soul artist Van Hunt.[13] Croft viewed the music as a continuation of their debut album, saying in an interview for Rolling Stone, "It's developed, but it doesn't seem like completely a world away. I hope people will just enjoy it as a development of where we were before."[13]

Rather than expand on their debut album's sound, the group wanted to minimize the songs they recorded for Coexist and muted certain elements during its production.[1] Croft explained their approach in an interview for Pitchfork Media, saying that "throughout pop music, you usually have to make the chorus really big, but we have a way of working where everything has to be played live. That's why there's not loads and loads of guitars or doubled vocals. That's really how we make minimal music—we're making what we can play on stage. It sets limits, which is good."[1] Jamie xx, who produced and mixed Coexist,[4] wanted to keep his approach to production simple and used recording technology such as Logic, Space Echo, preamplifiers, and occasional Casiotones to produce an electronic, emotive sound.[15][17] He also played keyboard and percussion instruments.[4] Jamie xx used both synthesized steelpan sounds and played actual instrument live.[10] He engineered the album with a mixing desk he put together from pieces of others and left doors open during the recording to let outside street sounds bleed into the mix.[12] The xx finished recording Coexist in May 2012.[14]

Music

Jamie xx's production was heavily influenced by his live DJ sets.[1]

The album's music eschews melodic structure for minimalist dynamics and sparse musical elements.[18][19] John Calvert of Fact asserts that Coexist is "a far more meditative album" for deviating from its predecessor's "tight, brisk pop songs", "nuanced [guitar] interplay", and "light dynamics".[20] Jon Caramanica of The New York Times comments that songs on the album "unfold ... beginning as pointillist sketches and ending up as huge, blurry color blocks."[16] Heather Phares of Allmusic views that the album "lays the trio's R&B roots bare" and that they "walk the fine line between minimalism and incomplete-sounding confidently."[11] Reflecting the group's electronic dance influences, Coexist features atmospheric, dance-oriented song structure,[21] deemphasizes traditional verse-chorus form,[8] and incorporates influences from dubstep and rave music.[10] Drowned in Sound's 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."[22] Rory Gibb of The Quietus writes 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".[8] Simon Price of The Independent asserts that "rather than clubland, Coexist owes a debt to comedown/chillout culture".[19]

The songs are characterized by droning harmonies,[23] simple chord progression, keyboard ostinatos,[24] ringing guitar,[10] resounding reverb,[18] slight bass grooves, and programmed beats.[9] Sim plays counterpoint melodies on his bass,[25] while Croft plays angular figures,[26] sketchy musical patterns,[27] and melodies developed from two-note intervals; Price likens Croft's use of the guitar to playing a harp.[19] Jamie xx's production is largely responsible for the music's lowest frequency sounds and incorporates both four on the floor and 2-step beats,[8][16] subtle BPM changes,[9] droning keyboards, heartbeat-like drum machine rhythms,[28] strings, and live percussion such as timpani, snare drums, and steelpans.[20] The latter instrument is played in arpeggio and exhibits Jamaican music influences.[10] Music journalist Will Hermes views Jamie xx as a more prominent contributor on Coexist than on xx and comments that "the beats and musical backdrops are more varied and command more attention."[29] Nitsuh Abebe of New York notes his transition from "dry, sprightly drum-machine patter" on xx to Coexist's minimalist music, writing that, "even when his drum hits and drips of ambiance are most sparing, each one's surrounded with echo and movement that seems to trace out the far corners of a large room."[30]

The songs are also spatially arranged and experiment with tension,[25][31] including listeners' expectations for a hook to unfold,[32] a dance beat to develop, and a time signature to change.[1][33] Elements such as drum beats,[25] vocals, and guitar motifs fade to silence throughout the songs.[8][22] 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."[10] Stephen Thompson of NPR comments on the music's lack of dynamism, writing that the group "lets its songs billow out softly and quietly, with only achingly pretty guitar lines to lessen the tension."[34] Michael Hann of The Guardian writes that the album refines the group'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.[26] Melissa Locker of Time comments that "each sound, be it instrument or voice, is given ample room to exist and to soar."[4]

Lyrics

Croft and Sim echo each other across the album, never quite duetting, more like two people singing their own versions of the same story ... both aching with regret.

“
”
— Michael Hann, The Guardian[26]

Coexist deals with themes of heartbreak, loneliness, and intimacy.[11][26] Croft and Sim share lead vocals,[18] which occasionally overlap in call and response interplay and slow crescendos.[4] Sim, who cites Sade as an influence, has coarse,[4] assured vocals, while Croft sings in a shyer style and exhibits catches in her voice.[16][22] The lyrics focus on a failing relationship and changes in a romance.[10][24][31] 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."[21] 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."[7] 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."[23] Kevin Liedel of Slant Magazine interprets the songs to be addressing the "lovebirds" from the group's debut album, "now separated and devastated ... mus[ing] on what went wrong".[18] Puja Patel of Spin remarks that the group's "fantastical, elemental star-crossed-lover talk has been replaced by evocations of a harder, more aggressively worked-at love".[35] Most of the songs have single-word titles that evoke long sentiments.[16]

The group's lyrics on Coexist feature broader diction than on xx and employ simple metaphors of light and darkness, and distance and time.[27][30] They often express emotional stress,[10] yearning,[27] and passive-aggressive attitudes.[36] Some songs feature a lyrical conceit of an emotionally elusive lover as an apparition or an illusion.[20] Croft and Sim avoid traditional duet lyrics about declarations of love, instead employing inner monologues to depict the same situation from two different perspectives.[19] Eric Sundermann asserts that, rather than "simply" being "declarations", the songs serve as "the thought process of how to deal with interpersonal struggles."[23] Neil McCormick of The Daily Telegraph perceives "intimate conversations between forlorn lovers" and an "almost sacred eroticism in Croft and Sim's whispery vocals."[9] Drowned in Sound's Hayden Woolley views that the album shares xx's "fragility", "quiet gravitas", and "heavy words", but is "an intensely wind-torn and wounded album that cuts even deeper than its predecessor."[22] Music journalist Luke Turner calls its subject matter more "turbulent, sensual and fun" than on xx and states, "of course not necessarily a sexual or romantic one, the feel of this second record is far more earthy, sticky, complicated, like the tension of the second or third encounters after a one night stand."[37]

Songs

"Reunion"
The noirish ballad exhibits The xx's sparse, moody sound, but incorporates an atypical musical element—a hypnotic steel drum by Jamie xx,[38] who reworked his bandmates' simpler demo of the song.[4]
Problems playing this file? See media help.

"Angels" is a sparse song that features slight vocals by Croft, rumbling baritone bass in the background,[31] subtle drum thuds,[35] and coiling guitar lines.[11] Arnold Pan of PopMatters views it as a "tone-setter" for the album "that locks in a measured pace and whispered cadences".[36] The song is about the idea of being in love,[23] with lyrics expressing lovesick emotion,[36] adoration,[39] and private knowledge acquired from intimacy:[26][35] Croft's lyrics compare a relationship that ended prematurely to "dreaming of angels, and leaving without them".[5] "Chained" experiments with musical buildup and subtle flourishes,[21] including cooing sounds, shimmering cymbals, a brief guitar solo,[32] and muffled 2-step beats.[8] Its lyrics lament a couple's distance from each other.[32] "Fiction" has soft arpeggiated rhythms,[22] plucking guitar sounds,[21] and industrial drum arrangements.[32] Sim's emotive, seductive lyrics recount romantic illusions such as "last night the world was beneath us",[11] but eventually lead to a catharsis.[32] "Try" has bright keyboards,[11] luxurious basslines,[23] oscillating guitar lines,[32] sluggish snare drums, and eerie looped synthesizers.[40] Jamie xx experimented with unconventional electronic elements when producing the song.[38] John Calvert of FACT asserts that the song is a stark "conflation of urban and indie music", noting its "portomento [sic] synths and rumble-bass (think 'Drop It Like It's Hot') passing under tremolo guitar."[20] The song's lyrics express an attempt by the narrators to evoke feelings of hope and functionality.[32]

"Reunion" is a noirish ballad that features reactive emotions by the narrators.[33][38] It begins with heavy reverb,[20] timpani, intertwined guitars,[19][33] and a Moombahton-derived time signature.[40] Jamie xx approached the song's recording as he would remixing a song, working with a demo of bass, guitar, and vocal parts at his own studio and incorporating house and techno elements.[38] Midway, "Reunion" develops a refrain of "did I ... see you ... see me ... in a new light?", and pulsating steel drums lead to a somber, rhythmic dance section,[32] which features spacious synths and repeating bass grooves.[21][33] The song's pulsating beat transitions into "Sunset",[32][40] a song about the pain shared by estranged ex-lovers.[32] The song's muted beat adds tension to the narrative, which FACT's John Calvert interprets to be "the couple's final farewell – the beat serves to denote the passing of time."[20] "Sunset" also has a subtle UK garage beat,[19] minimal bassline, rolling guitar lines,[35] and funky house influences.[33] The song was directly influenced by Jamie xx's DJing gigs, and Croft cites it as "an example of the idea of a kind of song we're all really into, which is heartbreaking dance music".[38] Consequence of Sound's Harley Brown views that "Reunion" and "Sunset" make up a congruous mix at "the heart of the album" and writes of their dance music sensibilities, "Jamie xx indie-streams these house varieties like Madonna mainstreamed vogue, slowing down and alienating beats from their context so they’re even more universal, unobscured by their dance floor origins.[40]
"Swept Away"
The penultimate song features anticlimactic dynamics and veers between pop and downtempo dance styles.[8][18] It is the group's most overt experimentation with dance music on the album.[1]
Problems playing this file? See media help.

"Missing" features a melancholic mood and experiments with echoing vocal effects.[21][31] The song's lyrics express inner turmoil and deal with themes of separation and isolation.[33][41] Sim sings lead over Croft's echoed background wails, and vice versa, amid solemn keyboard flourishes.[32] Sim originally wrote the song on the group's tour bus near the end of their tour, but underwent several changes before being one of the last songs recorded for the album.[38] "Tides" opens solely with Croft and Sim's vocals,[40] and features fading musical elements, including lock-step percussion, minor strings, an isolated guitar line,[32] and a wavy bassline.[11] Croft and Sim trade lines expressing resignation as their respective partner "leav[es] with the tide",[32] comparing the ebb and flow of a relationship to that of tides.[38]

The album's subsequent songs focus on separation and feature lyrics written in past tense.[20] "Unfold" has an ornamental musical style and comprises individual notes and pauses.[42] The song incorporates tension in its off-beat composition,[20] and its percussion increases in tempo before the accompanying instrumentation follows suit.[32] It features deep house beats,[22] resounding guitar harmonics,[36] funky house grooves, rhythmic hi-hat,[35] and a dominant breakbeat.[40] Croft describes "Unfold" as a "gentle reverie" and "quite an emotional one."[38] She and Sim sing in unison on the song, "Out of sight, out of mind / Doesn't mean you're not mine / The feeling goes on and on and on".[40] "Swept Away" contains fragile declarations of love.[32] Musically, "Swept Away" reflects Jamie xx's work on We're New Here and is the most dance-oriented track on Coexist.[40] Croft and Sim wrote the song as a ballad before Jamie xx altered it with a Roland TR-909.[38] "Our Song" features a rewinding guitar sample, looped feedback,[43] and pulsating percussion buildup.[41] It is about the love shared in a friendship,[38] with Croft and Sim sharing confessional lyrics.[32] They wrote "Our Song" wanting to address each other and the band itself.[1] Croft said of the song's significance to them, "We've never done that before; we're always addressing the songs outward. It's about the function of love and the love of friends. It's important."[1]

Title and packaging

The album's title was inspired by the colors visible in iridescent oil.

The album's title was inspired by their idea for the cover artwork, which depicts an iridescent oil spill in the shape of an "X",[22] a variation on the group's white-on-black "X" logo.[1][44] Croft compared the mixture of oil and water to her holistic view of the group, saying in an interview for Grantland:

You see a puddle of petrol on the floor – it can look sort of beautiful with the colors that come through it. I looked it up on Google or whatever, and it said oil and water don't mix, they peacefully coexist? And that's what it is when you see those colors. I liked that idea: those two things coming together to make something more beautiful than they are. And I liked the idea of us three coming together; only when the three of us are together, that's when it exists.[12]

When they informed them of the title, their record label's American office e-mailed them about there being a "Coexist" bumper sticker.[12] Croft said that "I know it has that connection, but it felt like the right word. It's cool, I guess? It's a nice message? Everybody getting along?"[12]

Release and promotion

Coexist was released worldwide by Young Turks.[45] In May 2012, The xx played three intimate shows in London, where they previewed material from the album.[46] They also performed on the Mini Stage of the San Miguel Primavera Sound festival in Barcelona, Spain, on 31 May.[47] On 17 July, "Angels" was released as the album's lead single.[48] It charted at number 46 in Australia and at number 38 in Belgium.[49] The second single, "Chained", was released on 7 August.[50] On 28 September, The xx performed the song, along with "Sunset", on Later... with Jools Holland.[51] A remix of the song was released as a single to iTunes on 11 March 2013.[52] "Sunset" was later serviced to American modern rock radio on 28 January 2013.[53]

To test if The xx could replicate their debut album's viral success, Young Turks' parent label XL Recordings approached technology companies and agreed to a deal with Microsoft to create a visualization that could track sharing of the album's stream.[45] The xx collaborated with designers from Internet Explorer and 9elements on the project.[54] It was designed to show lines on a global map as Coexist is shared and was inspired by media artist Aaron Koblin's visualization of flight patterns in the US.[45] The album's stream was posted on a host site upon its release and shared with a fan in London through Facebook.[45] The stream's host site crashed within 24 hours after the stream had been shared with millions of users.[45] It subsequently reached social news site Reddit, where fans campaigned to share the album to every country possible.[45] Label executive Adam Farrell of Beggars Group, Young Turks' distributor, cited it as "one of the most significant album premieres we've ever done".[45]

Tour

In June 2012, The xx embarked on a 25-date, international summer tour. The tour lasted into September and featured performances at several music festivals, including Primavera Sound, Rock Werchter, Sziget Festival, Lowlands, Bestival, and Electric Picnic.[5] On 23 July, the group debuted "Swept Away", "Sunset", and "Reunion" from Coexist at the Music Box in Los Angeles.[55][56] Unlike the group's last tour, Jamie xx added live percussion instruments to his repertoire.[12] In December, The xx will play a five-date tour in the United Kingdom—Brighton Dome on 6 December, O2 Academy Newcastle on 11 December, Wolverhampton Civic Hall on 12 December, Colston Hall on 14 December, and Brixton Academy on 16 December.[57]

Reception

Critical response

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic [11]
Robert Christgau A–[58]
The Guardian [26]
The Independent [19]
NME 8/10[33]
Pitchfork Media 7.5/10[27]
Q [59]
Rolling Stone [24]
Slant Magazine [18]
Spin 8/10[35]

Coexist received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 79, based on 46 reviews.[60] Priya Elan of NME called it "a difficult second album, but an intensely rewarding one".[33] Garry Mulholland of Uncut dubbed it a "masterpiece",[7] and Jody Rosen of Rolling Stone wrote that The xx, "masters of restraint", "haven't altered their sound, they've refined it".[24] Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune felt that it "functions as a near-perfect mood piece" and, "because there are so few elements in each song," each sound "makes a bigger impact."[25] Luke Turner of The Quietus called it "a real consolidation of The xx's sound" and commended them for "crafting and honing what they do, ramping up sonics rather than clamour or brash colour."[37] Neil McComick of The Daily Telegraph praised Jamie xx for "somehow widening and deepening the sound without intruding".[9] Puja Patel of Spin credited Jamie xx for "both stretching and magnifying the gritty beauty of his vocalists ... transforming [the album] into something alive and dynamic instead of merely sleepy."[35]

Michael Alan Goldberg of The Village Voice called the album "gorgeous" and stated, "It's music as haiku instead of sonnet; Hemingway rather than Fitzgerald, with meaning and emotion lurking beneath the surface."[61] Eric Sundermann of The A.V. Club remarked that the lyrics' "voyeuristic quality, sitting upon Smith's exquisite foundation of beats, makes it all strangely enticing."[23] MSN Music's Robert Christgau commended the group's preoccupation with "young love" and stated, "these scrupulously abstract verses capture its obsessive doubts and fragile exaltations with delicacy and tenderness."[58] Allmusic's Heather Phares found it "more accomplished than xx, [although] less accessible" and stated, "Coexist's exploration of isolation and intimacy is demanding and rewarding in its bold subtlety and eloquent simplicity."[11] Simon Price of The Independent praised "the turbulence of their emotional palette" and felt that, "in its unfailingly minimalist way, Coexist sees the [xx] breathing new life into the concept of the duet."[19]

In a mixed review, Slant Magazine's Kevin Liedel criticized the album as musically and lyrically "fractured" and called it "a collection of richly crafted but idling songs in desperate need of some muscle."[18] Arnold Pan of PopMatters found it monotonous and "an exercise in delayed gratification."[36] Randall Roberts of the Los Angeles Times commented that The xx is "more evolved musically than lyrically" and panned their lyrics as "one-dimensional planes floating through the group's oft-glorious 3-D spaces."[43] Pitchfork Media's Mark Richardson felt that it is occasionally "a little rickety" and remarked that, "if generally successful on its own terms, Coexist also serves to remind us why exactly the debut was so brilliant."[27] Although he critiqued that it "becomes labored in its second half," Jon Caramanica of The New York Times called the album "as insular and micro as ambitious pop music can be ... a wonderful experiment in the power of absence."[16]

Commercial performance

Coexist debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart on first-week sales of 58,266 copies in the United Kingdom.[62] It was the group's first number-one album there.[63] The album sold 22,005 copies in its second week.[64] Coexist also debuted at number one on record charts in Belgium,[65] New Zealand,[66] Portugal,[67] and Switzerland.[68] In the United States, it debuted at number five on the Billboard 200 and sold 73,000 copies in its first week.[69] The album debuted at number two on the Canadian Albums Chart, with first-week sales of 10,000 copies in Canada.[70] On 14 September 2012, Coexist was certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry, for shipments of 100,000 copies in the UK.[71]

Track listing

All lyrics written by Romy Madley Croft and Oliver Sim, except where noted, all music composed by Croft, Sim and Jamie Smith.
No. Title Length
1. "Angels" (lyrics by Croft) 2:51
2. "Chained"   2:47
3. "Fiction" (lyrics by Sim) 2:56
4. "Try"   3:15
5. "Reunion"   3:57
6. "Sunset"   3:38
7. "Missing"   3:33
8. "Tides"   3:01
9. "Unfold"   3:02
10. "Swept Away"   4:59
11. "Our Song"   3:13

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Coexist.[73]

The xx
  • The xx – design
  • Romy Madley Croft – guitar, vocals (all tracks); keyboards (2); art direction
  • Oliver Sim – bass, vocals (all tracks); synthesiser (3)
  • Jamie Smith – beats, engineering, mixing, MPC, production (all tracks); piano (3, 10); organ (4, 5); steelpans (5)
Additional personnel
  • Sarah Chapman – strings (8)
  • Charlotte Eksteen – strings (8)
  • David Evans – photography
  • Phil Lee – art direction, design
  • Rodaidh McDonald – mixing
  • Mandy Parnell – mastering
  • Ivo Stankov – strings (8)
  • James Underwood – strings (8)

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (2012) Peak
position
Australian Albums Chart[74] 2
Austrian Albums Chart[75] 3
Belgian Albums Chart (Flanders)[65] 1
Belgian Albums Chart (Wallonia)[76] 3
Canadian Albums Chart[77] 2
Danish Albums Chart[78] 5
Dutch Albums Chart[79] 4
Finnish Albums Chart[80] 6
French Albums Chart[81] 2
German Albums Chart[82] 3
Irish Albums Chart[83] 3
Irish Independent Albums Chart[84] 1
Italian Albums Chart[85] 6
Japanese Albums Chart[86] 53
Mexican Albums Chart[87] 52
New Zealand Albums Chart[66] 1
Norwegian Albums Chart[88] 6
Polish Albums Chart[89] 14
Portuguese Albums Chart[67] 1
Scottish Albums Chart[90] 3
Spanish Albums Chart[91] 5
Swedish Albums Chart[92] 4
Swiss Albums Chart[68] 1
UK Albums Chart[93] 1
UK Indie Albums Chart[94] 1
US Billboard 200[69] 5
US Alternative Albums[95] 1
US Independent Albums[96] 1
US Rock Albums[97] 4

Year-end charts

Chart (2012) Position
Australian Albums Chart[98] 84
Belgian Albums Chart (Flanders)[99] 11
Belgian Albums Chart (Wallonia)[100] 75
Danish Albums Chart[101] 82
Dutch Albums Chart[102] 94
French Albums Chart[103] 92
German Albums Chart[104] 80
Swiss Albums Chart[105] 59
US Billboard 200[106] 187
US Alternative Albums[106] 31
US Independent Albums[106] 19
US Rock Albums[106] 51
Chart (2013) Position
Belgian Albums Chart (Flanders)[107] 82

Release history

Region Date Label
Japan[72] 5 September 2012 Hostess Entertainment
Australia[108] 7 September 2012 Young Turks
Ireland[109]
Germany[110] Young Turks, XL Recordings
France[111] 10 September 2012 XL Recordings
Poland[112] Sonic Distribution
United Kingdom[113] Young Turks
United States[114] 11 September 2012
Italy[115] XL Recordings

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 1.10 1.11 1.12 Dombal, Ryan (21 August 2012). "Interviews: The xx". Pitchfork Media. Archived from the original on 6 October 2012. Retrieved 8 September 2012. 
  2. ↑ Gundersen, Edna (10 September 2012). "Listen up: Music from the xx, Avett Brothers, David Byrne". USA Today (McLean). Archived from the original on 6 October 2012. Retrieved 11 September 2012. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Lamont, Tom (1 September 2012). "The xx: 'It's abnormal for bands to share so much'". The Observer (London). The New Review section, p. 23. Archived from the original on 6 October 2012. Retrieved 8 September 2012. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 4.8 Locker, Melissa (5 September 2012). "The xx Take Risks, Succeed on Coexist". Time (New York). Archived from the original on 6 October 2012. Retrieved 8 September 2012. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Lipshutz, Jason (1 June 2012). "The xx Announce New Album, 'Coexist'". Billboard. Archived from the original on 6 October 2012. Retrieved 8 September 2012. 
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Monger, James Christopher. "The xx - Music Biography, Credits and Discography". Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Archived from the original on 6 October 2012. Retrieved 7 September 2012. 
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