“Being Seen” with Fred Again.. and The xx

On British urban spiritualism and The xx's album "I See You"

I found out about Fred Again.. (I’ll use Fred from now on) a couple years ago and have been obsessed with his album Actual Life.

I may have found Fred because of my obsession with the Overmono remix of “I Have a Love” by For Those I Love, a heart-on-sleeves beat poet track with an ethereal British dance mix slathered on top. I believe Spotify algorithms have related these two together, and that makes sense when comparing the use of field recordings and bedroom pop stylings.

Now, The xx’s Romy collaborated with Fred and Haai on the track Lights Out, which is not a classic in my ears but I’m fully appreciative of the small world that I seem to live in regarding British alternative electronic music (To further branch out in connections, Fred and Haai were both featured on Jayda G’s DJ-Kicks performance).

I mention Fred due to repeated verbal motifs in the 2021 album Actual Life (April 14 - December 17 2020): “I found you...”, “I want you to see me Fred, I’m here!”, “You said you felt like you were see-through, but darling I’ve seen you…”

There’s a rather new phrase that I’ve heard in comedy shows and media alike, after someone recognizes a rather niche personal trait when speaking broadly about something:

“… I see you.”

From the little observational data I’ve gathered from the past couple years of media I’ve consumed, mixed with an essential album of The xx entitled “I See You”, I can make a light conclusion that I might be surrounding myself with entertainment that is occupied with recognition.

For The xx, recognition is a love song. For Fred, recognition is urban spiritual connection. We live in a time of individuals seeking recognition for their personality, heritage, and talents—it’s not a surprise that British artists aestheticized this feeling with uplifting, ethereal, electronic sounds. It’s their bread and butter.

From Jamie xx to Burial to Fred to Ross From Friends to Laurence Guy, a predominant sound of alternative British electronic music is one of melancholic happiness.

Every xx album has been an event in my life, even if it took a few years for Coexist and I See You to settle into my heart.

I can track the months and seasons I was most obsessed with The xx over the past 13 or so years that I’ve listened to their discography—and boy do I trawl through their very limited collection of tracks. I wait with bated breath for another Jamie xx album and anything from Romy’s solo work.

I center myself on these three albums, and for now, in this time of my life, I attach most to I See You, which feels bright and open compared to their first two albums, and one most earnest in its lyricisms.

The xx has always been dark and cutting, but tracks like “Test Me” and “Say Something Loving” vocalize the manic, often embarrassing qualities of love—“… Am I too needy, am I too eager?”, “I’ll take it out on you, it’s easier than talking it through…”

In loving others, what is the fine line between romance and pitiful neediness? Using The xx as an artistic resource on love, I think the line is too blurry to make clear delineations. This question is so pertinent to The xx that they explored it for the three albums now.

With “I See You”, I feel as if they are making a conclusion that despite those blurred lines, they are willing to take the chance of romantic failure because they are enthralled by another’s recognition; “being seen” may be the practice of love that transcends the usual physical and verbal expressions of it, and becomes a spiritual romance of soul to soul.