“I felt like I wasn’t heartbroken and for the first time, I wanted to write happy songs,” Romy Madley Croft told i-D in December. She was talking about I See You, The xx’s new album. The record drops on January 13 and will be the minimalist trio’s first collaborative effort in five years, since their sophomore album Coexist in 2012. “The general feeling and takeaway is that [I See You] has more joy, more warmth, and more openness, which is a reflection of us as people,” Romy explained.
Now, the band has debuted “Say Something Loving,” the third track to be released from the album so far, and it’s another taste of that joy. “You say something loving / It’s so overwhelming, the thrill of affection,” Romy and bandmate Oliver Sim intone over a sparkling instrumental. The lyrics move from anxious uncertainty to a celebration of love and seizing the moment (“Before it slips away / Don’t let it slip away,” sings Romy in the building percussive outro). It’s just the track we need for 2017: an anthem of cautious optimism.
Related: Meet Paolo Gallardo, the star of The xx’s brilliant video for “Hold On”
Credits
Text Alice Newell-Hanson
Photography Laura Coulson