Is it hugs and kisses? Is it noughts and crosses? X’s & O’s (pronounced exes and ohs) formed in early 2007. At the time, the band’s main songwriter, Marc Oswin, was performing his dark folk ballads under his solo guise of Mark with the Sea. With a bigger vision for many of the songs he was penning, Marc set out to put together a group of musicians to realise the bigger sound. Marc didn’t have to look far.