****
With this album, The xx finally take centre stage. After building hype for a couple years, it all comes frontloaded with this album leading to unprecedented singles and album success! But then this ironically comes from an album that in theory does not sound like it should take centre stage. However, having my first couple of listens to the album in the background, I didn't get much out of it. Sitting down to write this review, I was prepared to find myself bored quickly with it.
This didn't happen. The songs had sunk in with me, and every time I thought it was about to get boring, I found myself thinking 'oh wait, I liked this song too', and that carried the album nearly all the way to the end. It's incredibly stripped back, but the beats really make their mark.
However, incoming inevitable comparison to debut album imminent: It's not as good. Listening to "xx", it really becomes apparent that there's something missing with this album. It is good that they didn't make a 2nd "xx", but this is a slight step back from that. 4.25 | 
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