February 11, 2018 (streaming) - Unreleased
Softly, softly.
2XM’s new single ‘Inept’ coaxes my mood back to bed via a tender synth nocturne. With two hands in the boat and two hands in the water, we sail away into a space that is almost, but not quite, ambient. This track is cool, a song you pull out of your vinyl record collection when you bring a date back to your house for the first time. And just like the beginning of a romance, ‘Inept’ presents a series of sensual, pregnant pauses that keep me interested. It must be an effective seduction, because the main musical theme repeats twelve times (yes, I counted) throughout the song, but I can’t get enough.
‘Inept’ is pretty, and the instrumentation toes the line of gourmet cheese. It functions as a moment of rest and contemplation like a Japanese zen garden, luring you into a present of beauty, cliché but irresistible. And ephemeral. As lovely as this song is, it does not get stuck in my head once it ends. But I argue that the lack of stickiness is a strength, despite conventional (re:contemporary capitalist) opinions regarding what constitutes success in musicality. A song that demands presence rather than memory is pure.
The song framework is simple and easy to follow, allowing the listener to luxuriate in the momentary details. Each phrase is a repetition of the same theme and consists of eight counts of eight. The variable is the manifestation of that theme—what instruments are used, what is present and what is absent in each phrase, as well as the heightened inertia of the pauses between the phrases.
This structure is not a radical or even a modern musical concept. But familiarity carves out the aforementioned zen when coupled with the sentimentality of the melody and the high craft of the sound engineering. Listening, I melt into the rich textures created by the instruments and the way the sounds seem to float around me in 3D space. Like a powerful meditation, every variation of the melody gets richer as I spend more time with it, constantly unfolding, forever becoming.
2XM stands for “Two Times Murray,” an equation that consists of Liam and Benjamin Murray, two adorable brothers based in New Zealand and London, respectively. Liam makes house music and Benjamin makes contemporary classical music, and they collaborate remotely with each other across the globe to combine and conquer with the 2XM project. It is a modern, utopian fairy tale that represents everything we love about electronic music—it’s accessibility, portability, versatility and collaborative potential via the Worldwide Web.
‘Inept’ has not been officially released yet, but it is set to release later this year on The Nail Shop, a record label based in the UK. All we have for you so far from our side of the water are rumors scraped off the belly of the internet. And a name to follow. And a link for your precious, weary ears. Enjoy. ☔