The xx have announced that their second album, released on September 10, is to be titled Coexist.
The London trio, who played six new songs at their live comeback in the capital last month, recorded the follow-up to their 2009 self-titled debut in their own London studio.
The band’s Jamie Smith once again took on production duties on the album, which they began work on in early November 2011 before completing the sessions last month.
Speaking to NME, singer and guitarist Romy Madley Croft said the new songs show the evolution of the band over the past few years.
“I’ve been thinking that I hope people enjoy it as a separate thing. The first album exists – we’re not trying to make it again,” she said, before adding: “We’ve just grown up, and although this isn’t a ‘grown up’ album, we’ve evolved. It’s just us growing a bit more. I hope people enjoy it as a continuation, rather than us trying to make the first album again.”
She added that although she’s “happy we’ve progressed” the new material is “not prog rock”.
The band have been largely silent during the making of the album, other than revealing it would be influenced by “club music” and posting regular YouTube embeds on their blog, xx-xx.co.uk.
To read a world exclusive in-the-studio interview with The xx, where they give the full inside story on the making of Coexist, pick up next week’s issue of NME, which is on newsstands and available digitally from next Wednesday (June 6).
The xx are due to play at Italy’s Traffic festival tonight (June 8), ahead of their slot at Primavera in Portugal tomorrow (9). They then play a number of global live dates before returning to the UK to play Bestival on September 7.
Picture credit: Owen Richards