VIDEO / REVIEW: XOV – “Boys Don’t Cry”

Swedish artist XOV (otherwise known as Damian Ardestani) first started gathering a following in the blogosphere after uploading his exceptional track “Boys Don’t Cry {Naked Edition}” to his Soundcloud page.  Now that song has a video and it suits it perfectly.  Where the song is somewhat minimalist, the video is stark black and white.  Where the song is haunting, we see raindrops falling and other downtrodden imagery, meanwhile we have XOV singing alone in an empty room, looking despondent.  Moody doesn’t begin to describe it.  But what our description doesn’t tell you is just how beautiful the song is.  We’re not exaggerating when we tell you that it sounds like the lovechild of James Blake and The Weeknd.  It has the former’s light flourishes of synth and simple beats combined with the latter’s soulful and emotive R&B-style vocals.  We can’t wait to hear a full-length album from this guy.

Youtube info:

Published on Nov 7, 2014