Coachella 2013: The xx Bring A Smoldering Set
Britain’s The xx brought their sparse and sexy music to Coachella’s main stage on Saturday (April 20). And at first, you might think their particularly particular sound — with windy echoes and whispered vocals often more bracing than any percussive snap — would be ill-suited for the buzzing, undulating mass of partiers in Indio, CA. You’d only be half right.
For festival-goers who wanted to make out with the one they’re with (the EDM Sahara tent was the spot to make out with the one they’re sweating next to), there was perhaps no better set. The smoldering interplay between vocalists Oliver Sim and Romy Madley Croft is even more charged live, and Jamie xx’s use of emptiness even more dramatic in person. The only problem, then, was the overarching problem of Coachella: noise pollution. Two Door Cinema Club was playing the adjacent Outdoor stage, so that band’s strobing lights and wiry riffs muddied The xx’s hushed presentation. Check out photos from the smoky set up top.
