XY&O re-introduce themselves with with haze-pop cover of “What’s Love Got To Do With It”

“What’s Love Got To Do With It” is the band’s first release of 2017, following last year’s Shimmer & Shade EP. Shimmer & Shade garnered support from BBC Introducing, with single “Low Tide” climbing to number six on Spotify’s Viral Chart.

As they move forward, XY&O maintain the importance of live performance despite their heavily electronic sound. Unwilling to rely entirely on laptops and playback, their rich arrangements allow for more traditional instrumentation to shine through. With artwork depicting the neon-lit windows of a Soho sex shop, it’s perhaps unsurprising that XY&O’s reworking of “What’s Love Got To Do With It” is laced with soft finger-clicks and slinky guitar lines.

“We wanted to stay away from anything too obvious or close to home,” vocalist Skip Curtis explains of the seemingly incongruous choice of cover. “An 80s slammer from an iconic behemoth-voiced diva felt far enough away.”

“‘What’s Love Got To Do With It’ works on a few different levels. It’s a carnal song, but it also questions a motive. A lot of people are questioning the motive behind the sociological shifts towards self service and xenophobia. We felt like the duality in the track allowed us to do the same.”