I grew up with an Acoustic Guitar in my hands and delusions of grandeur. Like most young teenagers, I thought I was the embodiment of Elliot Smith ready to lead my flock of fellow misunderstoods into a new age of introspection and emotionally maturity. As I aged and actually gained some emotional maturity, which comes with its twin brother “fucking perspective” I realised that man with acoustic guitar does not equal Elliot Smith. Thankfully my love for the instrument pervades and London/LA band XING embody that nicely. Fate is a Demo released a year ago but with XING currently in the mastering process for their upcoming EP maybe it’s time to get excited by it all over again? I think so. Let’s all get excited.
If not I might start thinking I’ve got an album in me and trust me I don’t. Let’s leave it to crooners who are more indie than folk and managed to blend the backing vocals with global pop fundamentals that we can all sympathise with.
This is cool. I think it’s actually more reminiscent of a serious Mac de Marco rather than a sillier Elliot Smith. The lyrics are too lightweight to be like ES, but that doesn’t make them bad. Sometimes we needn’t be peering into our own souls the whole time – in fact naval gazing is probably bad for us! I really like the way the piano and the bass interact as a slightly off kilter rhythm agains the melody in this, it’s great!
LikeLike