“The battle never ends but you won the war,” sings Paige Duddy, whilst military drums rattle through the song. Yes, the second track from LA based pop newcomers XYLØ fires all the right sounding guns from the off. Of course, all these references to some sort of violent onslaught might suggest that Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea is some sort of deadly armageddon fuelled noisy rocker – far from it. This is a piece of melancholy pop that tells of being shipwrecked, going under, coming up for air, diving in the deep end and drowning. It seems like Paige needs some relationship swimming lessons or at least armbands or a rubber ring to keep her afloat.
If (like us) you're fans of New Zealand's sad-pop brother sister duo Broods, then the chances are high that you'll be adding XYLØ (Paige and Chase who form the duo are also siblings) to your list of favourites.
XYLØ - Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea
“Dark pop bordering the lines of Broods and Lana Del Rey,” was how XYLØ was first described to us. Cue immediate excitement, because in 2014 Broods' debut Evergreen was our second most played new release of that year and two years before that Lana Del Rey’s Born To Die has been crowned our number 1 of 2012.
XYLØ don’t let us down. Debut song America is exactly that. Dark. Pop. Bordering the lines of Broods and Lana Del Rey. But it's not just its atmospheric sound - there's a lot of moody, black, sulking pop floating around - this one has a great song as well. You might have even heard the track before, an excerpt of it was used in this advert (here).
XYLØ is L.A based brother sister duo Paige and Chase Duddy and it seems that they’re a little cynical and untrusting about the world they live in: “Real life is make believe, all that glitters isn’t gold to me,” Paige sings. “They say we can stay in America, you can be free in America, but I’m sick of listening to everyone.” It seems that this cynicism has a reason though, according to Paige America is "a love song about a country forcing two people apart." It’s all soundtracked by majestic menacing synths and reverb heavy drums that give the whole thing a world-weary, downtrodden feel to it. This is sombre weighty brilliance, we can’t wait to hear more.
XYLØ - America
