The xx, Shepherds Bush Empire, March 2nd
The xx played Shepherds Bush Empire on March 2nd
Wednesday, 10, Mar 2010 02:13
The hype machine and the expectation that comes with topping umpteen 'album of the year' lists might have done for former xx keyboardist Baria Qureshi when he quit the south London glacial pop band last year, citing exhaustion.
It certainly can't have been caused by the strain of the band's live shows, if their sold-out show at the Shepherds Bush Empire was anything to go by. While the material of their self-titled debut retained the bewitching simplicity of its recorded antecedent, the almost surreal stillness of the concert grew from intriguing to irritating.
There were moments of drama with a sense of Clint Mansell and Sigur Ros evident in the stark, white-curtained, silhouetted opening while a cover of Womack and Womack's Teardrops saw some glint of personality eke through the towering wall of the band's placid stage stance. The emotional quality of their music meanwhile, which clasps you like an aloof lover, remains intermittently magnificent, with Crystallised and VCR close to tearjerking.
But for all their musical ability - and to create something so complex with so few tools, they must have talent in spades - there's something alienating about joining the audience for an xx concert, even one as tightly-packed and sweltering as that in Shepherds Bush.
The steady flowering of their music would lend itself well to visual accompaniment and, like Massive Attack's screening of political messages across airport departure boards at Meltdown, the xx could find their music could be transcendental, were it a little less elemental.
Lewis Bazley