Time to get down and stylishly dirty with UI as we Flashion Forward into unexplored regions of time and space: a magical aesthetic land through which we coquettishly zip about the closets of our fave new interviewees and explore their closets to examine the physical and psychological baggage they pack their shizzle in. We’ll also ask ourselves important, meta questions about, ya know, clothes ‘n shit. Let’s probe The xx’s bag of tricks to see what kind of goodies these bad boys and girls are hiding.
That they’re often described as writers of “bleakly minimal songs that are darkly romantic” makes them sound like the next bad one-hit wonder about to go into overplay on Pandora and The WB. But the overly simplistic–if apt–description belies the “singular bleakness” of their debut album, xx, “which sounds like it’s been made by moonlight by a grim team of introverts, half-drunk and lonely.”
And if The xx’s album, featuring tracks that “low together like one epic track with various movements” in a “mesmerizing” “unforgettable debut” that “can break your heart or renew your momentary faith in love” doesn’t hook you, maybe they themselves will.
They’re certainly not your typical young and winsome fashion plate band, but their all-black, strangely accoutered, excessively pale, come-as-you-are-and-be-prepared-to-scowl at the unfairness of it all teenage pose is actually refreshing and strangely innocent. It reminds me of less obsessively airbrushed days in which the music was center stage.
Don’t expect the crew to go all Kelly Clarkson on us anytime soon–they’re here for the long haul, and they’re gonna stick to their black and decidedly non-shiny guns. Below, check out their wiser-than-their-years take on the all-encompassing importance of experiencing the all-encompassing vibe of music fests.
TOPICS: Flashion Forward, Kathleen Willcox