The xx

Band of the moment and NME favourites The xx are on the cusp of something big. The London trio can already boast a sellout tour, which helps explain why Studio 24 is tonight rammed with artsy hipster kids with appropriately 'alternative' haircuts, awaiting the arrival of the latest Big Thing.

While 'Intro', one of the most hypnotic album openers to be heard in some years, captivates the crowd, only silhouettes are to be seen of the three Londoners. A white sheet masks the stage, creating an air of intense mystery that persists throughout the evening. Eventually, the sheet drops emphatically and the three are revealed, but a mythical shyness surrounds them with a subdued aura of morbid cool. All dressed in black, they speak barely a word—but then, they don't need to. Oliver Sims' beauteous, moaning drawl and Romy Madley Croft's seductive lisp is enough to make everyone in the stuffy little room think they’re up close and personal with a lover, hearts beating and pulses racing. The xx embody sex.

Particular highlights include ‘Crystalised’, a languid beauty of a track reflecting the perfection of the Sims/Madley Croft pairing, as the duet sing different verses simultaneously to produce a compelling, melancholic feel. The band offer two covers tonight: Womack and Womack's ‘Teardrops’, note-perfect and haunting, and Kyla's 'Do You Mind'. Such is The xx's influence, with both their own material and their slightly disparate cover choices; they seem to possess the ability, through simplistic arrangements and deep bass notes, to look into their fans' very souls.

It is rare for a band, sounding exactly like they do on their album, to retain an air of anonymity and secrecy. But The xx seem to manage this with little effort, seeming at all times refreshing, pure and unquantifiably cool.