Just a few weeks ago, the three members of British chillwave outfit The xx confirmed that they are back together again, working on the followup to their 2012 sophomore album Coexist. Oliver Sim, Romy Madley Croft, and Jamie xx celebrated the news by announcing fall tour dates — the band’s first run of shows since 2013 — and sharing a playlist of songs that had been inspiring them. This mix included Cat Power, Suicide, The Cure, and Frank Ocean. Today, a mysterious addition has been made: an untitled, uncredited, 55-second-long instrumental.
The piece is atmospheric, cinematic, and definitely sounds like something The xx would make. But given that it’s uncredited — and has been added to the studio playlist of other artists’s work — no one can say for sure whether the trio is behind it. But it wouldn’t be unlike them.
The group’s critically adored self-titled debut record opens with “Intro,” a lush and thumping instrumental (plus Madley Croft and Sim’s ecovative hums) that clocks in at just over two minutes. Though it doesn’t have any words and wasn’t released as a single, “Intro” is one of the record’s most popular songs. It has soundtracked many television commercials, was the BBC’s theme to the UK’s 2010 general election, and was sampled by Rihanna on her sixth album, Talk That Talk.
This piece of mystery music could belong to another artist, be the skeleton for another track on the band’s forthcoming record, or be this record’s “Intro.” Either way, it certainly is the start of something big.
Credits
Text Emily Manning
Photography Barbara Anastacio