The xx were four precocious youngsters from South West London who provide the hushed minimal strokes of Young Marble Giants and early Cure but through the minds of a young act obsessed with the R&B turns of Ciara and Aaliyah, having gone so far as to cover the latter's "Hot Like Fire" as the b-side for their first single, "Crystalised" and having first been picked up after recording a sensational version of Womack and Womack's "Teardrops".

Having signed to XL sub-label Young Turks earlier in the year of their debut's release the band began to record with a host of the finest producers going, including Brazilian giant Diplo and up-and-coming hotshot Kwes, the four eventually settled with the option of recording at XL's in-house studio, with the album eventually produced by the band themselves.

This is an inspired, broken and uplifting record, packed with melancholic charms that recalls the suburban disillusion of the previous Burial records and Portishead's Dummy.