The xx - Crystalised

You're listening to Song Exploder, where musicians take apart their songs and piece by piece tell the story of how they were made. I'm Hrishikesh Hirway. Let me tell you about one of my favorite podcasts in the world, How Did This Get Made? It is so funny, and it is just one of the best film discussion podcasts, talking about some of the very worst movies. It's hosted by the comedians Paul Scheer, June Diane Raphael, and Jason Mantzoukas, all of whom I adore individually and then together they're just a magic combination. And they'll also have guests on sometimes, like Seth Rogen and Adam Scott and Nicole Byer, and I just love the show. I listen to it when I'm at the gym, which is a terrible idea because sometimes I'll be in the middle of some exercise and in the middle of a crowded space and I burst out laughing and I look like a complete psychopath, but it's worth it. Check out How Did This Get Made if you love talking about or hearing about just terrible [laughs] cringe-worthy movies that are so bad they're good. Check out How Did This Get Made today. Thanks to Gusto for supporting Song Exploder. This show pretty unexpectedly turned into a small business a little while ago, and Gusto is online payroll and benefits software built for small businesses. It's all-in-one, remote-friendly, and incredibly easy to use, so you can pay, hire, onboard, and support your team from anywhere. They've got options for every business size, whether you're as small as Song Exploder or much bigger, and they can work with nearly every budget. It's quick and simple to switch to Gusto. You just transfer your existing data to get up and running fast. Plus, you don't pay a cent until your first payroll. So try Gusto today at gusto.com/songexploder and get three months free when you run your first payroll. That's three months of free payroll at gusto.com/songexploder. Once more, it's gusto.com/songexploder. This episode is sponsored by the new video game Mixtape. It's sort of like if the movie Dazed and Confused were a video game. It's about high school and adventure and nostalgia. And if you're the kind of person who cares about the power of an amazing mixtape, then this game is probably for you. The soundtrack features Smashing Pumpkins, Iggy Pop, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Joy Division, The Cure, and a lot more. Mixtape comes out May 7th on console and PC. Check it out at mixtape.game. The xx formed in 2005 when they were still in high school. They signed to the UK label XL Recordings and put out their first album in 2009. It won the prestigious Mercury Prize and was named one of the best albums of the year by Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, and more. And since then, The Guardian has named it one of the best albums of the 21st century. This year, the three band members, Romy Croft, Oliver Sim, and Jamie xx, played together as The xx for the first time in eight years. I spoke to them in between the weekends at Coachella, where they were opening their sets with the song "Crystalized". It's the first song that they ever released back in April 2009, when the lineup also included Baria Qureshi on guitar. I spoke to Romy, Jamie, and Oliver here at my studio about how they