Analysis of The XX 'Angels'

The XX “Angels”

The xx are an English indie pop band formed in London 2005. Angels is taken from their second album, Coexist, of which was released 2012.Davy Evans was the artist who created the photography and moving image for the XX album 'Coexist'. The visuals were created 'in camera' to mirror the organic sound of the record, amplifying the indie genre that The XX follow, therefore there is no sense or reference to the notion of looking in this particular video. Album design and Art Direction by Phil Lee and Romy Madley Croft. The video as a whole is two minutes and fifty four seconds in length, this meaning that due to the song being relatively shorter to the average three minutes thirty, they are able to do a concept based video as it wont bore the audience and be repetitive. 

When watching the music video you find a link between the lyrics and the visuals seen, the main line I picked up on was, “And with words unspoken, And silent devotion”. The image of the video as a whole is very earthy and is one image replayed and animated to match the tempo of the music; you are visually presented with Andrew Goodwin’s theory of ‘Though Beat – Seeing the sound’’.  The line, not only symbolises that an image of someone speaking or lip-syncing is missing, but also demonstrates a trance like state captivating the audience into their ‘silent devotion’. Thus amplifying the indie genre and what the artist aim for in their stylistic yet simple work. This can also be found when entering their home page on their website. You find upon opening, their black stylistic motif (band logo) surrounded by nothing but an empty space, with only the leading links to the other pages in an off grey tone, just visible to the eye. This is seen again during the chorus of the song, "They would be as in love with you as I am", the only bit in the chorus that is fully emphasised is the first four seconds where the base is at its lowest. As the base then eases up, so does the waves in a rippling effect.

When moving the mouse over the visible image, a wave of colour follows your movement, this then can be linked to the relationship between visuals and the music itself during the music video. This wave of colour can be linked to the change of pace in the song, although the song as a whole is primarily slow (to match its indie pop genre), nearing the end an almost numbing sound is played during the penultimate verse. The centred rainbow is animated to takes seven seconds of the song for it to shift upwards in a three second burst before returning back to its original placement for another seven seconds, when this occurs it amplifies the sense of numbing. Another example would be; when the base begins to play the ink drops, positioned in the bottom left pulse in sync. Therefore demonstrating a visual representative of the instrument. 

As The XX are an indie pop based and, a motif seen commonly throughout the coexist album and into their earlier work is organic images. However, due to it being a mixture of indie and pop, The XX needed to steer away from the stereotypical greys and blues linked with indie. It is the pop side to their music that created such an uncommon music video, in order for them to match the genre; brighter, earthier and more organic colours were used to intensify photographer Davy Evans work. Constantly throughout the album and its matching artwork, there is a particular shot type used, a head on shot is taken, it is not cantered or angled in any way. This acts as a contrast to its attempt to steer away from stereotypical indie work, as it is a straight forward and simplistic shot.

The XX’s logo is also another motif used throughout their entire work. Although it isn’t present in their ‘Angels’ music video, in some interpretations and fan edited versions the video sometimes begins or ends with the logo on screen. In some cases, where the creator is more advanced, the video is edited to fit into the logo itself. It is also found on the front of the Digipack and posters advertising the Coexist album, therefore allowing the audience to instantly recognise who the artist is. It also stands out when sitting on the shelf as the black and white create such a contrast, it draws the consumer to it. The front, inner left and CD itself contain the "X", however the inner left pane is a cut out of with encases a small booklet, filled with song lyrics and more images by the same  photographer as the music video. The back pane follows the simplistic continuity of the entire Coexist range; the songs and be found on the left of the centre of thirds, along with the bar code. The text on the inner centre and back pane are all capitalised Arial Black, - seen on the webpage and posters -  however the inner centre is more busy than the back pane. This inner centre consists of the artists and companies smalls prints, ranging for institutional values to general artists knowledge.

The concept based video can also be argued to represent a spiritual vision or image, this has then led people to create links to space photographs, very organic images. The wording throughout the Digipack is very simplistic and almost organic, echoing the style of the music video.
However, with one of the Coexist posters, they flipped the contrasting colours, instead of having black on white, it was switched to have white on black. This swatch doesn't take away from The XX's preferred reading of being an Indie Pop band, instead it creates a breath of fresh air and a differing option for fans, if in the rare chance they don't like the black on white original verison. Additionally, you do notice that the white on black version is missing the albums name, this meaning the audience have alreading been keyed into understanding that the logo belongs to The XX and that it represents the Coexist album; nevertheless, the layout stays the same with their iconic simplicity. 
The issue with having such a simpilistic layout, means that facebook and website links, along with a release date s cut out from the final product. This then means that the active audience will have to research for the information, it isn't simply given to them. The XX have instead of giving information, they have restricted it, which in effect can create a higher demand of want and need for the information and then the album, thus portraying a sense of engima code.

 
Overall, The XX are extremely clever to create such a captivating video and concept throughout this particular album with such simplicity. If the viewer wasn’t paying much attention, the image would appear to be still, but it is the active audience who see the visual representative of the music.