xx by The xx

xx is the debut album by English indie pop band the xx. It was released on 14 August 2009 by Young Turks, an imprint label of XL Recordings. After signing a record contract with XL, the xx recorded the album from December 2008 to February 2009 at the label's in-house studio in London. Audio engineer Rodaidh McDonald worked with the band during the recording sessions and attempted to reproduce the intimate, unembellished quality of their demos. The band's Jamie Smith produced xx on his laptop and created electronic beats for the songs, which he then mixed in a detailed process with McDonald. Although the xx had been strongly influenced by R&B acts, the album also drew comparisons from critics to alternative rock, electronica, and post-punk sounds. The melancholic songs on xx featured minimalist arrangements and were built around Smith's beats, Oliver Sim's basslines, and sparse guitar figures played by Baria Qureshi and Romy Madley Croft, who employed reverb in her lead guitar parts. Most of them were sung as low-key duets by Croft and Sim, both of whom wrote emotional lyrics about love, intimacy, loss, and desire. xx received widespread acclaim from critics, many of whom named it one of the year's best records. It sold steadily over its first few years of release, becoming a sleeper hit in the United Kingdom and the United States. Although none of its singles became hits, xx benefited commercially from the licensing of its songs to television programs and the band's Mercury Prize win for the album in 2010. When Qureshi was dismissed from the group shortly after the album's release, the xx continued to play as a trio on a protracted concert tour that helped increase their fanbase, reputation in the press, and confidence as performers. The record proved highly influential in subsequent years, as its distinctive stylistic elements were incorporated by many indie bands and top-selling pop acts. In 2013, xx was ranked number 237 on NME magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.