Great album openers get the listeners to keep on listening. They can do this in any number of ways. Some openers set the tone by easing us in. Others jump right in and blow our minds from the very beginning. A great album opener isn’t an easy thing to create. More than a great song, it’s all about the sequence. Track 1 has to be the perfect starter. This month, I’m highlighting my favorites. #AlbumOpeningSongs
I believe that the word “cinematic” is one of the greatest compliments we can give to a creative expression outside of film. The word denotes visual presence and an aesthetic quality beyond the obvious or expected. It’s not a word to be used lightly. In fact, the word itself carries with it much weight particularly in non-visual creative formats like music. “Intro”, the album opener from The XX’s debut album is that kind of a song. Cinematic from the first to the last note.
Here we have one of the greatest instrumentals of the 21st century. Written by The XX, who were pretty much just kids at the time. Deliberately simple. Monochromatic in its sound. Yet, the song evokes so much beyond the music. This was the song that set the tone for one of the strongest debut albums of the 2000s. I never heard anything like it before. “Intro” was a powerful introduction to a band that mastered minimalism. Delivering a cinematic approach with its clean, stripped down musicality.