The Space the xx Leave Open

Chained is Coexist in miniature—the whole album compressed into four minutes. Romy’s voice does that thing where it barely rises above a whisper and still fills every corner of the room. The production strips itself to almost nothing: a beat, a bassline that behaves more like a held breath, and in that absence you feel the full weight of whatever the song is actually about. I’ve never been entirely sure what that is. I don’t think that’s a flaw.