British duo XAM Duo crafts hypnotic, meditative soundscapes that fuse kosmische and spiritual jazz currents with ambient techno. Their sprawling 2016 self-titled debut consisted of expansive pieces built chiefly on modular synthesizers and saxophones, while the far more concise 2022 sequel XAM Duo II brought digital technology into the mix.
The project began life as XAM, serving as an outlet for Hookworms member Matthew Benn’s electronic experiments. Drawing from the vintage electronics of Tangerine Dream, Kraftwerk, and similar pioneers, he spent his downtime from Hookworms duties in 2014 laying down tracks. Deep Distance Records issued the resulting three-song EP Tone System in mid-2015, after which Benn received offers to perform the material live. Realizing he needed additional players to reproduce the desired blend of synths, drum machines, and live instruments such as saxophone, he connected with Christopher Duffin of Deadwall. The introduction came via MJ of Hookworms after Duffin had been recording at the Suburban Home studio and expressed interest in moving toward electronic music. At their first rehearsal the pair recognized an immediate musical kinship and chose to collaborate, prompting the addition of “Duo” to the project name.
An improvised piece titled Two Ways appeared in July 2016, followed later that year by the self-titled album, which Benn and MJ captured at Suburban Home largely on the same day as that initial, fully spontaneous rehearsal. In 2017 XAM Duo joined Virginia Wing for Tomorrow’s Gift, a collection of exploratory pieces shaped by the work of Alice Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders, and Holger Czukay. The duo shared bills with Stereolab, Jessy Lanza, and Michael Rother. After Hookworms disbanded in 2018, both Benn and Duffin joined dance-rock outfit Holodrum, whose debut album arrived in 2022—the same year XAM Duo issued its second full-length. Written several years earlier and already road-tested before the COVID-19 pandemic, XAM Duo II combined external sequencer and MIDI computer control with analog synthesizers while drawing from Japanese ambient traditions and the melodic wing of ’90s IDM.
