The xx’s Drake-Sampling “Naive” Is a Necessary Outtake
Of all the samples on the xx’s latest I See You, none have the quite gravity of a Drake sample. From the of Carpenter’s-esque Alessi vocals on “Say Something Loving” to the ghostly chorale of “Lip,” the band has developed a very specific way of building tracks around short cuts of gorgeous ambient sound that bask in a reflective shimmer. Starting in Jamie xx’s well-received solo material and slowly seeping into the project with their most recent album, the samples tend to work as jumping off points for a return to guitar and bass, with Jamie eventually riffing on the pieces of Romy Croft and Oliver Sim with programmed drums and synth sounds more characteristic of his solo material.
It’s a formula that marked growth for the band with I See You, but one that doesn’t seem all that essential to the tracks themselves as songs. The album’s first three cuts would…