Amigo Kevin Hyde writing about the joys of The xx and the other joys of Mary + Percy Shelley: 

This song features the closest analogue I could find to the insular, romantic vibe that obtains between Mary and Percy Shelley in their “History of A Six Weeks’ Tour.” 

Romy Madley Croft and Oliver Sim of the XX sing on ‘VCR’ about spending time together, snuggled up, ostensibly isolated from others, talking about big love and being “superstars.” It’s this kind of lovers’ conclave they evoke (where, if you’re on the inside, your prevailing attitude is “fuck off, everyone else,”) that I think reminds me so much of the Shelleys’ travel book, in which Percy and Mary, at about the same age as the two singers in the XX, go on the Grand Continental Tour, in their day the thing to do, and write an account—in letters and journals and one poem—about their trip, an account that includes some beautiful descriptions of the mountains and greenery of Switzerland, and some amazingly intense shit-talking about the natives of France, Germany, and I think every other European country they visit. It’s a wonderful book for many reasons, not least of which is that (for the random insults) it’s one of the most unintentionally funny things I’ve read, but it’s also moving and strangely heartbreaking (P. Shelley writes, at one point, about his being a weak swimmer, and this is six years before his death off the Italian coast. Classic literary critic mystery: can one self-foreshadow?).

Why am I writing about this semi-obscure book? My friend Tony has issued it under the auspices of his Monkfish Jowls Books imprint, and it’s now available, with an intro by Tony and an afterword by me, on Amazon’s ebook store. It’s $3! Even if you don’t own a Kindle, or if you do and don’t feel like paying $3, you should read the book. It’s restorative in a way that a lot of books are not, perhaps because it’s the product of youth and enthusiasm, and because it projects these brilliantly clear landscapes right before your eyes, with Viewmaster-esque potency, as you read.

-Kevin Hyde, reposted from his mp3 blog MOLARS featuring daily updates covering the best in shoegaze, polka, Souza marches, and chillwave.