CREEP

In the “Days” video, Creep producers Lauren Flax and Lauren Dillard sit across from each other in front of an empty marble fireplace in what must be a haunted house. In between them is a flat device about the size of a yoga mat. It’s like a cross between a sampler with hundreds of pads that light up and a Ouija board for communicating with departed spirits. Flax and Dillard shoot beams of light across to each other, corresponding to the spiky synth stabs that kick the song off. Before guest vocalist Romy Madley Croft of The xx comes in with her lines, Flax and Dillard have a terrifying, shaking house production going on with foreboding synth bass and clickety-clack drum machines. Note to self: if you can ever get Croft to sing on a track, do it. It’s like having Cat Power sing on something. Things will never be the same. While The xx’s production boy wonder Jamie Smith – now going simply by the moniker Jamie xx – is busy shaking up Gil Scott Heron’s I’m New Here, Croft has found a perfectly-matched duo in Creep. While “Days” shares elements with The xx, the song also goes places that xx never did – it’s grittier and more sinister, and it fits Croft’s whispery style well. It will be interesting to see where Creep – and the XX – go from here.