Your valentine wants this. Low key, low-fi yet hopelessly romantic, the XX’s American debut in August has garnered much indie kudos and appeared on all sorts of top ten lists for 2009. And the attention has generated lots of sales which prove this release to be quite popular with starry eyed hipsters like yourself or your sweetheart. The lackadaisical vocal delivery of Romy Madley Croft and Oliver Sims as female / male leads mixed with the laid back dancy beats and a single guitar that could have come from an early Cure record create a very unique and dreamy sound for these twenty-something Brits. But despite all the early New Order coolness, tracks like “VCR”, “Heart Skipped a Beat” and “Infinity” express a certain longing , desire, and heartbreak that is often naïve and quite sweet yet hip enough to slow dance on the post-modern dance floor. This is a good one for snuggling.