At some point over the last few years R&B has ceased to be viewed as a slick vehicle for the music industry to burn money on ludicrously expensive videos.
Collapsed, inverted by a raft of new artists R&B now seems to the most flexible, suitable conduit for a 21st century existential crisis. So it goes. Xander The Great are two people. 21 year old Xander Taha and 19 year old Ed Sanders, the pair work alone, building each track from the ground up to create grand, beautifully crystalline productions.
Using their differences to provoke one another – Xander Taha is self taught, while Ed Sanders is classically trained and has sung privately for the Queen – Xander The Great are an intense, fascinating proposition.
Emerging blinking into the light, the duo have gifted ClashMusic an exclusive new track. 'Cold Skin' is so fragile it feels like it could break at the slightest touch, a skeletal piece of music which seems to seclude itself from neon commercialism in favour of something rather more affecting.
Slate grey atmospherics and deeply soulful vocals, 'Cold Skin' is an enticing, entrancing introduction.
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Xander The Great are set to play London's Lexington on March 7th.