The xx

Last time the xx played Seattle was in 2010 at the Paramount, where the group's spacious, minimal-soul sound was mostly swallowed up by the cavernous venue. Wisely, as they ready their second album for release in 2012, the U.K. trio embark on a small-room tour of Europe and America, downsizing their show here to Showbox Market. The more-intimate venue is better suited to the band's starkly intimate music, a surprisingly nuanced, realized expression of impassioned longing and emotional distance coming from a group of just-turned-20-somethings.