Orchestral pop. The strings are real, not synths. FLAC reveals the bow hair hitting the violins. The 2013 Steven Wilson remix in 5.1 (or stereo FLAC) is a masterclass.
XTC is not a band you listen to on laptop speakers. Andy Partridge is notoriously obsessive about sound layering. On albums like Oranges & Skittles (from Skylarking ) or Respectable Street (from Black Sea ), there are dozens of percussive hits, synth stabs, and guitar arpeggios buried in the mix. In a compressed MP3, these details smear into sonic wallpaper. In FLAC, you hear the "woody" thud of drummer Terry Chambers’ kick drum and the precise stereo panning of the guitars. XTC - Discography FLAC