The xx 'excited' about BBC Philharmonic orchestra gig

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Page last updated at 05:11 GMT, Monday, 10 September 2012 06:11 UK

By Greg Cochrane
Newsbeat music reporter The xx

The xx are [L-R] Romy Madley-Croft, Oliver Sim and Jamie Smith

The xx say they're looking forward to adding "70 people to the band" as they prepare to play a special gig with the BBC Philharmonic orchestra.

The show, which takes place on Wednesday 19 September at the Spa Bridlington, is part of the BBC Philharmonic Presents... festival.

Bass player Oliver Sim said: "We're so excited. It's going to be a lot of fun."

The series will see acts like Richard Hawley and Ren Harvieu perform shows.

The xx revealed that they had been organising their show with the orchestra online.

"There's a lot of back and forth with emails," he said. "We only have two days to rehearse."

'Quite restrained'

Singer and guitarist Romy Madley-Croft said: "We want to use this opportunity to use the orchestra in an interesting way.

"There's a lot of space in our music and we don't want to fill it."

It would be so much fun to get out the timpani drums and go a bit nuts but we're hoping to use them sparsely

Oliver Sim The xx

Sim added: "We're going to be quite restrained with how we use them. I suppose to just accentuate and bring different levels to each song.

"It would be so much fun to get out the timpani drums and go a bit nuts but we're hoping to use them sparsely."

The gig will feature material arranged with composer Alex Baranowski, who also worked on the National Theatre's productions Hamlet and Frankenstein.

The first year of the BBC series last year saw the Philharmonic team up with dance duo Nero for a gig called the "dubstep symphony".

The xx concert will be broadcast live on Radio 1.

The trio released the follow-up to their Mercury Prize-winning debut album earlier this month.

The xx Symphony with BBC Philharmonic will be broadcast live on Radio 1 at 7pm on Wednesday 19 September.

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