I See You is the third studio album by English indie pop band the xx. It was released on 13 January 2017 by the Young Turks record label. It was the band's first album in more than four years, following 2012's Coexist.
The xx began recording I See You in 2014 at Marfa Recording Co. in Marfa, Texas, and were assisted by producer Rodaidh McDonald. According to the band, they had a more progressive, wide-ranging musical concept in mind, compared to their previous two albums. Jamie xx, the band's multi-instrumentalist and producer, said the album's sound and aesthetic were influenced by his 2015 club-influenced solo recording, In Colour.
I See You was released to widespread critical acclaim, with many reviewers finding its music less insular than the xx's previous recordings. It became the band's second number-one album in the United Kingdom and an international top-ten chart success. Four singles were released to promote the album, beginning with "On Hold", while the xx embarked on the European I See You Tour and subsequent concerts in the Americas.
Recording and production
The xx announced in May 2014 that they were working on their third studio album with producer Rodaidh McDonald at Marfa Recording Co., a recording studio in Marfa, Texas.[3] According to Mixmag journalist Stephen Worthy, a "watershed" moment had occurred immediately before recording commenced when during a series of New York concerts, the trio—Romy Madley Croft, Oliver Sim, and Jamie Smith—"barely made eye contact with their audience. It was their way of saying goodbye to the old xx". While working on I See You, Croft enrolled in a songwriting course in California, Sim modelled for Christian Dior SE, and Smith released a solo album, 2015's In Colour.[4]
Smith, the xx's producer and multi-instrumentalist, stated that In Colour "definitely informed what we're doing" for I See You, while the band said the record would have a "completely different concept" from their first two albums.[5] They also said the album would sound "more outward-looking, open and expansive".[6]I See You was described by AnyDecentMusic? as an album of indie rock and dream pop music,[7] while Matt Hobbs from God is in the TV said the xx expanded on the dance portion of their usual fusion of indie and alternative dance sounds.[8] According to Pitchfork's November 2016 update on the album, I See You was ultimately recorded between March 2014 and August 2016 at studios in Marfa, New York City, Los Angeles, London, and Reykjavík.[9]
Marketing and sales
The album's lead single, "On Hold", was released on 10 November 2016, premiering on the xx's YouTube account ahead of the album's release date being announced.[10] On 19 November, the band performed as the musical guest on the American sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live.[11] "Say Something Loving" was released as the second single on 1 January 2017.[12]
I See You was released on 13 January 2017 by Young Turks.[9] In its first week, it sold 26,513 copies in the United Kingdom and debuted at number one on the British albums chart, becoming the xx's second album to top the chart, after Coexist did in 2012.[13] In the United States, I See You debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 and recorded 46,000 album-equivalent units; 36,000 of these were traditional album sales.[14] In Japan, it entered the Oricon Albums Chart at number 34 and sold 2,073 copies in its first week there.[15]
I See You was met with widespread critical acclaim. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 85, based on 35 reviews.[18] According to Kitty Empire, it was hailed by critics as the xx's "least insular album thus far".[29]
Writing for The Guardian, Alexis Petridis said the record "pulls off the feat of managing to sound both exactly like the xx and unlike anything they have done before". He believed the band's willingness to explore musical influences from Smith's In Colour album gave the tracks a "richer and fuller" quality than on their previous records.[22]I See You was called "the most eclectic, multidimensional, and ambitious album of The xx’s young career" by Philip Cosores from The A.V. Club,[20] while Entertainment Weekly's Nolan Feeney deemed it "the boldest work yet from a band famous for subtlety".[21] In the opinion of Uncut reviewer Sam Richards, the band "expanded their horizons without sacrificing any of the emotional intimacy that makes them one of the most compelling acts around".[30]Q critic Victoria Segal noted its shared lyrical themes with Coexist and echoes of the "club culture" from In Colour, while concluding that musically, the band were "extending past glories rather than copying them".[26] "Sim's and Madley Croft's vocal melodies are sturdier and more shapely than in the past", Mikael Wood wrote in the Los Angeles Times, surmising it to be "a product perhaps of the time Madley Croft spent in L.A. between xx albums working on potential songs for pop stars."[31]
Some critics were less enthusiastic. In Vice, Robert Christgau observed artistic growth and accessibility in songs such as "On Hold", "Say Something Loving", and "Brave for You"; but said, "however impressive their originality and skill, the details always end up getting away" throughout the album's "indistinct murmurs ... because in the end the band's shared aesthetic is so contained."[28]Will Hodgkinson was more critical in The Times, writing that the album failed to "hit the highs of their previous work" while accusing the group of posturing, making note of Croft's "breathy emoting" on "Brave for You".[32]
Accolades
I See You was nominated for IMPALA's European Album of the Year Award.[33]
^週間 CDアルバムランキング [Weekly CD Album Ranking] (in Japanese). Oricon. 23 January 2017. Archived from the original on 18 January 2017. Retrieved 23 January 2017.
^"Czech Albums – Top 100". ČNS IFPI. Note: On the chart page, select 03.Týden 2017 on the field besides the words "CZ – ALBUMS – TOP 100" to retrieve the correct chart. Retrieved 23 January 2017.
