POP/ROCK
The xx, "I See You" (Young Turks)
The xx's tricks are two. Singers Romy Madley-Croft and Oliver Sim talk to each other in song, carrying on a musical conversation like a postmodern Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner or anxiety-ridden Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell. And ever since their self-titled debut album in 2009, they've made the most of minimalism, getting maximum emotional impact out of restrained arrangements that communicate unease while almost always opting to hold back rather than cut loose.
However, it's the third wheel — keyboard player and producer Jamie xx (real last name: Smith) — who's the difference-maker on the British band's third album. Smith stepped out as a solo artist with 2015's "In Colour," and on "I See You" he fills out the band's sound in inventive ways throughout, starting with the pitch-shifted sample of Hall & Oates' "I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)" that takes the album's superb lead single "On Hold" by surprise.
Madley-Croft and Sim have always been skilled at conveying unresolved sexual tension that's best suited to the dark corners of the chill-out room. Here, they brighten up and get moving to the dance floor.
DAN dELUCA, Philadelphia Inquirer
Natalie Hemby, "Puxico" (GetWrucke)
Hemby has spent most of her career helping others tell their stories. One of Nashville's most in-demand songwriters, she co-wrote Miranda Lambert's "Only Prettier," Little Big Town's "Pontoon," as well as songs for Kelly Clarkson, Maren Morris, Kacey Musgraves and others.
But when it came time for Hemby's debut album, the inspiration was all her own — the small town of Puxico, Mo., where her grandfather grew up and where she spent plenty of time.
